The odds were stacked against Walker Greynolds on Sunday afternoon at La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo.
Of course, there’s no sure bet in rodeo.
But staring up at six riders with better long-go scores, including the top two — 2015 Tucson Rodeo winner Beau Hill and 2014 Tucson Rodeo winner Tyler Smith — Greynolds had to feel as if he was staring up at a 60-foot wall.
But a boost is only one good bull away, and Greynolds took Scotland for a final-round 82.5, the only bullrider of the day to last all eight seconds, good enough to win the aggregate bull riding title and a purse of $8,212.
“I didn’t do a whole lot on my first bull, and my second bull, I’ve seen around, and he’s pretty good,” he said. “I just wanted to ride him and make the best of it, and that was the best of it.”
The bulls got the better of the riders for much of the six-performance event. Only nine riders had qualifying rides for the short round, and no other rider came close to the eight-second mark on Sunday.
When Greynolds, a 21-year-old out of Bakersfield, California, found out he drew Scotland, he quickly learned the bull’s reputation.
“It’s a big deal to me,” said Greynolds after the biggest jackpot of his career. “I’ve won rodeos before on one head, but this is the first I’ve won on two. The short round has always gotten me really nervous and I’ve always messed up.”
Clark top steer wrestler
Steer wrestler Blair Jones may have to rethink being quite so nice.
His charitable contribution helped lift his travel partner, Josh Clark, to a big purse.
Riding one of his buddy’s horses, Clark won the long-go competition on Sunday with an aggregate score of 14.1 seconds on three head after entering the day tied for the pole position.
Clark’s horse is back home, younger and not quite ready for prime time. He usually would use his other travel partner Jule Hazen’s horse, but that horse is back in San Antonio after Hazen qualified for the semifinals there, and Jones came to the rescue. In the fierce-but-friendly world of steer wrestling, this isn’t exactly unique.
“You either get along with everybody or you’re gonna be miserable all the time,” said Clark, who took home a $4,195 purse. “If I don’t win first, I want you to. Rodeo as a whole is great in that aspect, but I think steer wrestlers especially are a set of guys who help each other out.”
It wasn’t just the horse that benefited Clark on Sunday, but the steer. Earlier in the week, a wrestler took him down in an event-best 3.9 seconds, so Clark knew he had a good shot on Sunday.
“I took into effect that steer is a little slower, so he’ll let you catch him quicker,” Clark said. “I had to give him more of a head start. … It helps when you have a steer that wants to do the deal and let you do your thing.”
Hazen, not to be outdone, won $1,348.50 as the day’s top performer after a 4.4-second run.
Larsen wins a mint
Talk about one profitable weekend.
Rodeo is an expensive sport, but Orin Larsen can breathe a little easier after taking home another $6,588 to add to the $22,000-plus he won in San Antonio this weekend after taking home the short round on Saturday.
That should come in handy, as the 24-year-old bareback rider said he recently bought a house in Nebraska after his short-go 84-point ride atop Wonderland.
The win puts Larsen, a two-time college national champion, in prime position for the NFR rankings. Larsen, who made the NFR last year but finished in 12th, expects to be back.
“Going to finals this year was never out of the question,” he said.
Larsen had a false start on Sunday as Wonderland didn’t give him good positioning in the chutes, requiring a move to a different one. Turns out the extra time paid off.
“He wasn’t kicking or being bad, he just was leaning and not giving me a fair shot,” Larsen said. “I kinda look at it like he’s trying to cheat me, so I get mad and say bring it on.”
Zac Small and Wesley Thorp took home the aggregate team roping title with a time of 19.6 seconds, winning $3,851 each, and Ty Blasingame and Josh Fillmore had the day’s best time with a 6.3, clinching them $1,349 each. Ryan Jarrett won both the tie-down roping short-go and aggregate for a combined purse of $4,911, and Mary Walker swept the barrel racing titles with a 17.44 go-round ($1,650) and a three-head aggregate of 52.68 ($3,342).
Charlie Kogianes won the aggregate saddle bronc title and $3,001 with a score of 164.5, while Andy Clarys split the short-go and a $1,450 purse with an 82.5 atop Redigo.
