By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Friday Evening
It was a pleasant evening at the Jim Young Arena as the rodeo action got underway Friday evening for the 38th annual event sponsored by the Raton Rodeo Association.
This year the Rocky Mountain Pro Rodeo Company provided the stock for the event and the rough stock was just that as many cowboys found the plowed arena dirt well before the 8-second buzzer. Logan Patterson scored an 81 in the bareback bronc riding as four of the seven cowboys managed to score points. Cody Patterson took advantage of a reride in the saddle bronc competition to score a 74 while Peter White the only other cowboy to complete an 8-second ride scored a 62.
Terry Zenkawich took the Friday evening Steer Wrestling with a 5.8 seconds while Brit Ellerman and T.J. Watts roped their steer in a 6.2 second run. Trell Etbauer marked the scorebook with a 8.1 in the tie-down calf roping which was much better than his 18.7 second run in the steer wrestling event.
The ladies made it exciting Friday evening as Jenna Duhon took the barrels in 17.37 seconds with Cindy Smith close behind at 17.40 and Lana Sproule close with a 17.58 run and Clayton New Mexico’s Johnna Garcia making a fourth place run at 17.73 seconds.
The bulls made it a 9-0 evening even putting the 2015 Raton Rodeo bull riding champ Cody Strite in the dirt. Most of the cowboys only made a couple of jumps out of the chute as the bulls twisted and spun the cowboys like rag dolls.
Saturday Evening
The Saturday evening performance of the Raton Rodeo saw lead changes and some real stiff competition in the steer wrestling event. Three cowboys lead by Jake Trujillo (4.6 seconds) posted times of less than five seconds. Justin Simon posted a 4.7 followed by Koty Kamm with a 4.9 second run. Seven of the cowboys had times faster than the fastest on Friday evening with runs of less than 5.6 seconds.
Logan Patterson held on to his lead from Friday night as Bob Reynolds was the cowboy to make the ride in the bareback with a65 score. Jace lane scored an 81 to take the Saddle Bronc competition.
The roping events saw the team of J.D. Yates and Trey Yates take the team roping with a 5.4 second time while Trey Yates made a 10.3 second Tie-Down Roping run. While Yates’ time put him in first place Saturday evening it still wasn’t good enough to beat Trell Etbauer 8.1 second run Friday evening. It was the slack roper Robert Mathis who won the event with 7.7 second run.
The ladies also made it a close competition as Shelby Spielman won the Saturday evening event with a 16.88 second run however it wasn’t quite fast enough to beat Kelly Yates who took first place in the rodeo from the slack run Saturday morning. She was followed by five cowgirls with times just under 18 seconds. Then the bulls did their job throwing the cowboys to the ground many in only a few jumps. The bulls take the rodeo with a 15-0 record.
