For four days, the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo had two very interested spectators in Montana team ropers Ty St. Goddard and Ryle Whitford. They were front and center again during the Jan. 22 final round as they watched 11 other teams try to set the average mark to beat before they took their turn in the arena.
When they finally got the chance to rope again, they turned in a 6.5-second run that placed fourth in the round and easily carried them to the average victory over Kelsey Parchman and Justin Copp. After tying for third in the first round and placing second in the second round, St. Goddard and Whitford pocketed $10,336 each for their eventful trip to Denver.
“We were here watching every day,” St. Goddard said. “It was pretty tough watching everyone take a run at our time.”
That two-head average time of 9.7 seconds held up and left St. Goddard and Whitford sitting in front of a handful of Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifiers heading into the final round.
“This is just amazing,” said heeler Whitford. “I came here last year and my partner (a different header) missed them both. Ty’s never been here before. So for us to win it all is just amazing.”
The young cowboys – St. Goddard is 22 and Whitford turns 21 next Sunday – were raised on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Mont., and easily count the Denver victory as the biggest of their short careers. They had hoped to hit the rodeo circuit hard in 2012, and now there’s no doubt they’re capable of competing.
A week after both cowboys (roping with different partners) failed to record a single time at the Ram Montana Circuit Finals Rodeo in Great Falls, they found themselves on one of ProRodeo’s biggest stages. As part of the final-round opening ceremonies, the two were introduced to the crowd – along with other average leaders going into the round – in between bursts of pyrotechnics. A few minutes later, they were backing into the box for their final-round steer.
“We roped during slack on Wednesday and there weren’t many people here,” Whitford said. “With all the people today (the performance was sold out), my horse was a little nervous as we backed in there for our run.”
Whitford admitted the horse might not have been the only one who was nervous. But the two quelled any nerves and turned in a run that placed them 1.4 seconds ahead of the field – which also included fellow tribe member Dustin Bird. Whitford roped with Bird at the Montana Circuit Finals Rodeo last week and the winning team traveled with Bird from Montana to Denver.
Their trip took an unexpected turn when the truck broke down in Wyoming on Tuesday. Fortunately, they weren’t scheduled to rope until the Wednesday slack and managed to make it to Denver in plenty of time.
The other winners at the Denver Coliseum were Josi Young, all-around; Wes Stevenson, bareback riding; Justin Blaine Davis, steer wrestling; Cody DeMoss, saddle bronc riding; Justin Maass, tie-down roping; Brittany Pozzi, barrel racing, and Seth Glause, bull riding.
Glause was the rodeo’s top money winner with $13,614 and led a wholesale change at the top of PRCA world standings. He was joined at No. 1 by fellow Denver champions Whitford, DeMoss and Maass.
Two-time World Champion Dean Gorsuch took over the lead in the steer wrestling standings on the strength of winning the Jan. 22 finals and finishing second in the average at Denver. Colby Lovell assumed the top spot among team roping headers with a third-place finish in the average, paired with Russell Cardoza.
The only three event leaders from a week ago to stay in front were Stevenson, steer roper Chet Herren and all-around cowboy Trevor Brazile. With his win in Denver, Stevenson has the highest season total ($22,305) and the biggest lead; he is $13,141 ahead of second place Jared Keylon. The closest race? That would be the team roping headers category where Lovell is leading St. Goddard by just $746.
• A couple of PRCA cowboys made long-distance travel pay off for them over the Jan. 20-22 weekend. Second-year bull rider Cody Teel, who was one of just four men to cover all three of his bulls in Denver, also won the Amicus Club PRCA Rodeo in Alexandria, La., with an 86-point ride on Classic Pro Rodeo’s Blue Bonnet for total earnings of $4,271. Teel’s extra work took him from sixth to second in the world standings, moving just past three-time World Champion J.W. Harris and Jacob O’Mara. Codie Poe, 22, finished fourth in the tie-down roping in his home state of Louisiana and tied for sixth in the average at the Denver Coliseum for $1,879. He moved from outside the top 50 up to 22nd in the world standings, joining Shane Hanchey (7th) and Braxton Laughlin (18th) as one of three Louisianans in the top 25.
The PRCA, headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., is the largest and oldest professional rodeo-sanctioning body in the world. The recognized leader in ProRodeo, the PRCA is committed to maintaining the highest standards. The PRCA, a membership-based organization, sanctions approximately 600 rodeos annually, and there are nearly 30 million fans in the U.S. The PRCA showcases the world’s best cowboys in premier events through the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour presented by Justin Boots, and its subsequent Justin Boots Playoffs, the PRCA Xtreme Bulls Tour presented by B&W Trailer Hitches; and the world-renowned Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Action from PRCA-sanctioned rodeos and its premier events appears on Great American Country (DISH Network 167, DirecTV 326) and Pursuit (DISH Network 240, DirecTV 608). Each year, PRCA-sanctioned rodeos raise more than $26 million for local and national charities. www.prorodeo.com

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