ProRodeo Sports News - June 23, 2023

WOODWARD, OKLA.

WOODWARD ELKS RODEO

Phillip Kitts photo Heeler Jake Long, left, makes his catch moments after header Clint Summers did the same. The duo won Woodward with a 4.3-second run.

Summers/Long team up to win Woodward, Okla. New Partners BY JOLEE JORDAN, Special to ProRodeo Sports News A s winter’s cold fades and building rodeos give way to outdoor pens, ProRodeo’s team ropers seem to go through their own version of “spring cleaning” as partners decide to go their separate ways, leading to new pairings as temperatures rise. Clint Summers/Jake Long may be the most intriguing new alliance win the Playoff Series Rodeo. Summers credits his winter partner, 2017 PRCA Team Roping Heeler World Champion Cory Petska, with pushing him to seek out a new heeler. “Cory heard a bunch of teams were splitting up and he didn’t know how much he was going to get to go this summer,” said Summers, 31. “He called me and said, ‘there are some good guys looking for partners and I want you to do good.’” Meanwhile, Long was looking for someone with a style to compliment his own. with a pair of big wins on the weekend of June 9-11, including the Woodward (Okla.) Elks Rodeo, where they came tight in 4.3 seconds to

“Clint rides really good horses, he ropes sharp and snappy and sets the steers up to rope fast,” said Long, 39. “And I like to rope fast.” After struggles at their first outing in Guymon, Okla., the pair caught fire on their first busy rodeo weekend with Woodward being a highlight. “We had a first run and, honestly, we drew the best steer of the whole herd. They were all good, but he was the best,” Long said. “Clint drilled the barrier and set up the run for me.” The win was their second winning run in two days. They had posted an equally impressive 4.6-second run the previous day in Weatherford, Texas, at the Parker County Sheriff’s Posse Frontier Days and PRCA Rodeo. They earned $7,047 on the weekend. Following their tear through Oklahoma and Texas, the team hit the road for the summer. For Long, it meant saying goodbye to his family. “We have acquired too many animals for us all to hit the road,” Long noted wryly of leaving wife Tasha and his two daughters behind. “Unfortunately, I’ll be away from there for a few months while they hold down

the fort.” Noting that being outnumbered three-to-one at home “is not very fair,” Long says that Haven, 15, is a barrel racer who has been hitting junior high school rodeos while little sis Haizlee, 11, is more into dance. While Long has been navigating the patience-testing experience of junior rodeo dad, Summers is learning to rodeo with an infant in the rig. Summers and wife Brittany welcomed Claxton Darrell four and a half months ago. The child bears the same initials, C.D.S., as Summers and his father and brother and the middle name is tribute to Summers’ uncle who passed away due to COVID a few years ago. “Dang right, it changed things up,” he laughed. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I wouldn’t go if they couldn’t come with me.” The Wrangler NFR is the goal and Summers isn’t worried about his current position outside the Top 15 as he looks for his third qualification. “I have a ton of rodeos left,” he said. “If we rope how we are supposed to, there’s plenty of time and rodeos.”

TOP MONEY EARNER Cole Patterson ($6,551, steer roping)

BAREBACK RIDING 1. Tim O’Connell .......... 87 pts. 2. Jess Pope ................... 84.5 3. Yance Day ...................... 84

STEER WRESTLING 1. Ty Bauerle .............. 4.1 sec. (Tie) Tyler Ravenscroft .. 4.1 3. Mason Couch ................ 4.3

TEAM ROPING 1. Summers/Long ...... 4.3 sec. 2. P. Holliday/K. Good ....... 4.4 3. K. Yaussi/K. Yaussi ....... 4.7

SADDLE BRONC RIDING 1. Ean Price ................. 87 pts. 2. Brady Hill .................... 86.5 3. Ryder Sanford ............ 85.5

TIE-DOWN ROPING 1. Zack Jongbloed ..... 7.7 sec. 2. Blane Cox ..................... 8.0 3. Two at ........................... 8.4

STEER ROPING 1. C. Patterson .. 31.5 sec. on 3 2. Jess Tierney ................ 34.9 3. Clay Long ................... 36.6

BULL RIDING 1. Trey Kimzey .......... 87.5 pts. 2. Hudson Williams ........... 86 (Tie) Creek Young .......... 86

TOP

SCORES

Complete results/Page 66

ProRodeo Sports News 6/23/2023

ProRodeo Sports News 6/23/2023

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