ProRodeo Sports News - July 8, 2022

PONOKA STAMPEDE

PONOKA, ALBERTA

Canadian Cash

Culling strikes paydirt in Ponoka

BY JOLEE JORDAN, Special to ProRodeo Sports News T here was good news and bad news for steer wrestler Stephen Culling during Cowboy Christmas, the name given to the Fourth of July run of lucrative rodeos. The good news? The Fort St. John, British Columbia cowboy earned $21,835, punctuated by a huge win at the Ponoka (AB) Stampede thanks to the rodeo’s fastest run of 3.7 seconds during the Showdown Round on July 3. Those earnings were more than double what the 2016 PRCA Rookie of the Year had won previously this season and jumped him from outside the top 50 of the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings to nearly the top 20 and into contention for a first ever berth to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. The bad news? Because Culling had planned to only rodeo in Canada this year, he hadn’t entered anything south of the northern border and won’t be attending big money events coming up stateside in Spanish Fork, Salinas, Nampa, or Cheyenne in the month of July. “My plan was to stick close to home and just go to the Canadian rodeos,” said, Culling, 28. He is a several time Canadian Finals Rodeo qualifier, winning the average there in 2018. He also won the Maple Leaf Circuit Finals Rodeo back in November. “Now, all of a sudden, I have around $37,000 won and I’m trying to figure out how to get creative and get entered in some rodeos,” he noted wryly. “I started yesterday ( July 5) so we’ll get after them in August and September. “I’ve got some catching up to do.” Culling’s change of strategy was fueled largely by his second Ponoka championship. He won three of four rounds over the famous long, running score setup en route to the title. “I love that rodeo and I’ve had pretty good luck there over the years. I won it my rookie year, too,” he said. Culling was the only steer wrestler to post a sub-four second run during the entire event, and he did it three times. He won both opening rounds with 3.9 and 3.7 seconds, respectively. Though a little longer in the matinee short round on July 3, Culling landed third in the average. Under Ponoka’s ground rules, the top four advance to the Showdown Round that evening. “I had a couple of pretty good looking steers in the first two rounds,” Culling said. “I was on the barrier and my horse worked great.” Culling gave a lot of credit to his good buckskin horse, now 13 years old. “Buck works so good there. Tanner Brunner actually won it the last time they held it in 2019 on him,” Culling said, referencing the two-year COVID imposed hiatus of the Stampede. Reigning Canadian Champion Steer Wrestler Cody Cassidy provided the all- important hazes. In the Showdown Round, contestants competed in reverse order of the average standings, so Culling was second down the lane. “The steer I’d drawn was one they hadn’t done anything on all week. They’d been long,” he said. “The guys before and after me had good steers so I knew I had to jump out there, be aggressive and try to put some pressure on them if I wanted a chance to win it.” With a 7.7 leading, Culling made his move, tying his own second round run for the fastest time of the rodeo at 3.7 seconds.

TOP SCORES

TOP MONEY WINNER Lonnie West ($23,308, bull riding) BAREBACK RIDING

West

1. Leighton Berry ................... 90.25 pts. 2. Caleb Bennett ................................. 90 3. Ty Taypotat ................................. 88.5 STEER WRESTLING 1. Stephen Culling ..................... 3.7 sec. 2. Ty Livingstone .............................. 7.7 3. J.D. Struxness ............................ 13.3 TEAM ROPING 1. Richard/Buhler ...................... 4.6 sec. 2. McCarroll/Buhler ........................... 5.6 3. Popescul/Cullen ............................ 5.8 SADDLE BRONC RIDING 1. Layton Green ..................... 92.25 pts. 2. Kole Ashbacher ......................... 89.25 3. Zeke Thurston ........................... 88.75 TIE-DOWN ROPING 1. Shane Hanchey ...................... 7.9 sec. 2. Kyle Lucas .................................... 9.6 No other qualified runs BARREL RACING 1. Bayleigh Choate ................. 17.39 sec. 2. Virginia Foran ........................... 17.43 3. Lane Willis ................................ 17.48 BULL RIDING 1. Lonnie West ....................... 92.75 pts. 2. Jared Parsonage ............................ 89 No other qualified rides

COWBOY CHRISTMAS

Complete results/Page 79

Culling was awarded the buckle and jacket along with a “fistful of cash. I’ll take the money for sure, especially with diesel what it is,” he said.

Billie-Jean Duff photo Stephen Culling of Fort St. John, B.C., won the Showdown Round at Ponoka with a 3.7-second run. He left town after earning $21,835.

ProRodeo Sports News 7/8/2022

ProRodeo Sports News 7/8/2022

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