ProRodeo Sports News - August 2, 2019

CHEYENNE FRONTIER DAYS CHEYENNE, WYO.

Cress wins for third straight year Triple Play BY MATT NABER W hen saddle bronc rider Brody Cress was growing up a few miles east of Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days, every sunset he saw was in the shadows of the “Daddy of ’emAll.” Little did the buckaroo know he’d make history as the first saddle bronc rider to win Cheyenne three years in a row. ALL-AROUND COWBOY Stetson Wright, saddle bronc riding and bull riding. BAREBACK RIDING TOP SCORES Wright

1. Clayton Biglow ....................... 91 pts. 2. Richmond Champion .................. 89.5 3. Two tied at .................................. 87.5 STEER WRESTLING 1. Eli Lord ................................. 6.9 sec. 2. Reed Kraeger ............................... 8.7 3. Del Ray Kraupie ............................ 8.9 TEAM ROPING 1. D. Bird/T. Yates ..................... 7.8 sec. 2. B. Hall/C. Tryan ............................ 9.3 3. J. Cooper/C. Anderson ................. 9.5 SADDLE BRONC RIDING 1. Brody Cress ......................... 87.5 pts. 2. Three tied at .................................. 86 TIE-DOWN ROPING 1. Seth Hall ............................. 10.5 sec. 2. Ryan Thibodeaux ....................... 10.8 3. Austin Hurlburt ........................... 11.6 BARREL RACING 1. (Tie) Nellie Miller ............... 17.22 sec. Shali Lord ................................. 17.22 3. Megan Champion ..................... 17.24 STEER ROPING 1. Trey Sheets ................. 45.6 sec. on 3 2. Dan Fisher .................................. 49.6 3. J. Tom Fisher .............................. 49.9 BULL RIDING 1. Stetson Wright ....................... 93 pts. 2. Parker McCown ............................. 90 3. Ruger Piva .................................... 87

In 2018, Cress became the first saddle bronc rider in 82 years to win Cheyenne two years in a row. A year later, he made it three straight. “It’s hard to come here and draw good horses, but to do it three years in a row, you have to ride to the best of your ability, and to do that you need the horsepower,” Cress said. The other saddle bronc riders to win Cheyenne three or more times are Earl Thode (1927, 1931-32 and 1934), Turk Greenough (1933, 1935-36) and Cody DeMoss (2004, 2010 and 2012). This year, Cress placed second with an 85-point ride in the sixth performance and won the first semifinal round with an 88.5-point ride onThree Hills Rodeo’s Final Feather. He advanced to win the final round with 87.5 points on Stace Smith Pro Rodeos’ Resistol’s Top Hat – the same bronc that Jacobs Crawley was on when he notched an 89.5-point ride to win the 2017 RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo. Just like the RAMNCFR, Cheyenne presented a tournament format where a single score in the final round determined the winner. “You have to be the best every day with this format,” Cress said. Cress wasn’t daunted by the competition, nor did he feel pressured to win Cheyenne as countless friends and relatives cheered him on. “I don’t worry about that stuff, I just focus on the process,” Cress said. “We had an all-night drive last night to get here (for the final round), so I made sure to get some sleep and have something to eat and then stayed busy getting things in order for today.” After winning Cheyenne in 2017 and 2018, he went on to qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, a trend he hopes to continue in 2019. Before winning Cheyenne for the third time, Cress was 28th in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings with $35,099 – about $17,400 away from breaking into the Top 15. “I’d been inconsistent this summer,” Cress said. The day before winning $12,585 in Cheyenne, Cress also won the Deadwood (S.D.) Days of ’76 Rodeo with an 87-point ride on Brookman Rodeo’s Lunatic Bait for $4,487 for a weekend total of $17,072. His double win for the final weekend of July pushed him to 21st in the world standings. “It’s outstanding to have stuff click this time of the year,” Cress said. “It gets the momentum going into the summer, and I’m having fun, too.”

Jackie Jensen photo

Complete results/Page 89

ProRodeo Sports News 8/2/2019

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