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PRCA Rodeo rides through GarCo fair

Wednesday night was the PRCA Pro Rodeo Xtreme Bulls competition. There were four sections with roughly 40 riders who came to Rifle from all over the country to compete in the Garfield County Fair and Rodeo.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent |

With a full grandstand and perfect weather for Thursday night’s Pro Rodeo Cowboy Association’s Garfield County rodeo at the Garfield County fair, fans were treated to quite a show by the cowboys and cowgirls that competed in various events, ranging from barrel racing to steer wrestling.

At the 78th Annual Garfield County Fair, Hayden’s Garrett Uptain won the all-around cowboy competition, pocketing $455 for his saddle bronc riding and bull riding performances.

In the saddle bronc riding, Uptain finished 10th due to a rough ride on Two Timer. Fortunately for Uptain, the Colorado native bounced back in the bull riding event, finishing third with a score of 78 riding a bull named Storm Tracker.



J.R. Vezain of Cowley, Wyoming, won the bareback riding event with 83 points on a Sankey Pro Rodeo & Robinson Bull named Freak Show, pocketing $921. Craig Wisehart of Kersey, CO finished second with a score of 80, pocketing $691, while Brian Brown of La Barge, Wyoming finished third with a score of 79.5, winning $461. Rio Lee (Tucson, Arizona) and Weston Garrett (Gillette, Wyoming) finished tied for fourth with identical scores of 79, winning $115 each.

Steer wresting really stole the show as cowboys were flying around off of horseback trying to wrestle the powerful steers to the ground. Rifle’s Eric Brynildson had a tough time wrestling his steer to the ground, but eventually ended up finishing fourth overall in the event with a time of 24.7 seconds, earning him $237.



Montrose’s Ty Lang won the event with an impressive performance, wrangling his steer to the ground in just 9.2 seconds, winning the event by nearly seven full seconds, pocketing him $949. 2. Kane Butcher of Jelm, Wyoming finished second with a time of 16.8 seconds, winning him $712, while Brian Snell of Wheatland, Wyoming finished third with a time of 17.8 seconds, winning $475.

In team-tandem roping, Corey Whinnery (Powderhorn, CO) and Shad Chadwick (Cave Creek, Arizona) won the event with a time of 6.7 seconds, pocketing $705 each. Bobby Baize (Anthony, New Mexico) and Pake Younger (Grand Junction, CO) finished just three one-hundredths of a second behind Whinnery and Chadwick with a time of 7.0 seconds flat, winning $529 each.

Dustin Smith (Burns, Wyoming) and Uly Johnson (Fairburn, South Dakota) rounded out the top three with a time of 8.4 seconds, pocketing $353 each.

Lewis, CO native Tanner Lockhart won the saddle bronc riding event with 79 points on a Sankey Pro Rodeo & Robinson Bull named Twilight Trail, winning $1,034. Craig native Garrett Buckley and Chanse Darling of Hyattville, Wyoming finished tied for second with 78 points, winning $646 each.

In the tiedown roping event, Kip Jesser of Longmont, Colorado won the event with a time of 12.1 seconds, winning $978; Eastlake, CO native Caleb Adle finished just one full second behind Jesser with a time of 13.1 seconds, winning $733. Chase Johnston of Kersey, CO finished one one-hundredth of a second behind Adle with a time of 13.2 seconds, winning $489. Fellow Kersey native Dean Geesen rounded out the top four with a time of 13.3 seconds, winning $244.

Rifle native CJ Vondette won the barrel racing event, darting around the barrels in the arena in an impressive 17.55 seconds, winning $840; 2. Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi of Victoria, Texas finished just behind Vondette with a time of 17.56, winning $730; 3. Carla Beckett of Laramie, Wyoming finished third overall in barrel racing with a time of 17.67, winning $621. Eckert, CO native Jeni Cerise finished fourth overall with a time of 17.69, winning $511m while Wendy McKee of Craig, CO finished fifth with a time of 17.79, pocketing $402.

Macy Fuller of Whittmann, Arizona finished sixth overall with a time of 17.82, pocketing $292, while Brianna Braun (Dillon, Wyoming) and Ronnie Will (Silt, CO) finished tied for seventh with times of 17.91 seconds, winning $128 each.

Wrapping things up at the Garfield County Rodeo, Jason Blasdel of Fruita won the bull riding event, scoring 84 points on a Sankey Pro Rodeo & Robinson Bulls named No. 1212, winning $910. Ramon Curley of St. Michaels, Arizona, scored 80 points on the back of a bull named Buck Chuck, winning $682, while Uptain scored 78 points, winning $455.


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