ProRodeo Sports News - July 23, 2021

IN THEIR WORDS J.D. M C CUISTION Pikes Peak climb has tie-down roper in NFR hunt T hat run (at Pikes Peak) felt awesome. It’s been a slow couple of weeks. At Reno (Rodeo) and Pecos (West of the Pecos J.D. McCuistion is in the thick of the hunt for the 2021

bring each other back down to earth. He’s ready for the next one whether we won or lost the day before, like nothing has ever happened. We have good conversations. In 2019, I did get to go to virtually every rodeo I wanted to, close to 80. That was the first year I went to that many. It’s really exciting this season. I’ve worked virtually my whole life since I was a kid to be in this situation. I keep telling myself I have to keep moving up, keep winning. I try not to look at the standings. I feel like we have enough to focus on – entering, logistics, how to get from rodeo to rodeo – to not worry about the standings at this point in the year. There are still a lot of rodeos left and money to be won. If I’m not rodeoing, back home my dad has a concrete business (Marty McCuistion Concrete). When we’re not out on the road rodeoing, we have a job back home, and that’s to help the family business and keep it running. My brother and I are hanging out in Salt Lake for a few days then going to Spanish Fork (Fiesta Days Rodeo) and Nampa (Snake River Stampede). My parents came up for vacation. It’s been a while since they’ve come to the rodeos here, so they’re here to watch me and my brother at the rodeo. We’re also going to play golf.

Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and the ProRodeo Tour Finale. The tie-down roper from Collinsville, Texas, took a big leap in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings after tying his calf in 9.4 seconds in the finals of the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo in Colorado Springs, Colo. That time landed McCuistion $12,500 and 750 Tour points. He earned another $2,594 for his first-place time in the second round in Colorado Springs. As of July 20, McCuistion was in the top 20 in the world standings and 14th in the Tour. The 29-year-old is having his best season. In 2019, he finished a career-best 40th with $39,311. He’s already topped that total in 2021.

Rodeo), I hadn’t won a whole lot. I got a small check at Belle Fourche over the Fourth of July. When I threw my hands up at the finals it was a relief.

It was like, man, that felt really good, I’m going

to get paid quite a bit for this one.

It felt like everything went step to step to step, flowed really well. I knew I was fast enough. Pikes Peak or Bust is the biggest rodeo I’ve won in my career. It kind of gives me a highlight reel knowing that in times where I don’t feel like things are going well, I can look back on that run and realized that, yes, I’m good enough, and yes, I can win big rodeos. I feel like I’ve matured a little bit in my roping. We (McCuistion and his brother, Chris) have two really good horses (Marshall, 11, Wiz, 15). Now I’m choosing the right horse at the right rodeos, and in past seasons maybe I didn’t do that. But also, another year or two of age and I feel more comfortable in myself like in the situation the other night. I’ve got a little more confidence, I guess. Traveling with my brother makes it easy. In times where things aren’t going well, he can pick me up or vice versa. We can keep each other going and

ProRodeo Sports News 7/23/2021

ProRodeo.com

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