ProRodeo Sports News May 3, 2019

CLOVIS RODEO CLOVIS, CALIF. Archery tag helps key Eldridge’s rehab In the Hunt BY SCOTT KANIEWSKI

I n nearly a decade of trying, it was last fall that steer wrestler Dakota Eldridge finally drew an archery elk tag in Nevada. The problem was Eldridge had just undergone knee surgery and hunting season was only a month away. That tag and the fact that Eldridge’s wedding was in December kicked his rehab into high gear. “Honestly, if it wasn’t for that and the wedding, it would have been a long process,” said Eldridge, 27. “It’s tough to stay as motivated to give 110 percent that I’m not going to be able to come back (to steer wrestle) for six months. It was something I could do and something I could strive for: I could go hunting.” Indirectly, it also helped him rehab for the 2019 steer wrestling season. On April 28, Eldridge won the Clovis (Calif.) Rodeo for the second time, posting a four-head average of 22.7 seconds. Eldridge missed the last several months of the 2018 ProRodeo season due to a knee injury suffered at Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days. It caused him to fall out of the running for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo for the first time since 2012. He earned $6,704 at Clovis, climbing to 17th in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings with $29,054 as of April 29. “Man, it’s amazing because it pays so good and the crowd seems to get bigger every year,” said Eldridge, who was riding his horse Rusty. “They’re adding another perf next year, so it’s hard to tell how big it’s getting with more money and more fans.” Eldridge had been putting in for the archery tag for seven years. When it finally came through last fall, no way was he going to miss the opportunity. And he’s still reaping the rewards. “Once I had that to strive for and then I got good (healthy) enough, it was like, hey, I better get after it because I’m going to be bulldogging before long,” he said. “Once that was done and the wedding was done, I still had to bear down and stay in the gym every day. I could see life at the end of the tunnel as far as coming back and bulldogging.”

ALL-AROUND COWBOY Cody Doescher TOP SCORES

$7,065, steer wrestling and team roping BAREBACK RIDING

Doescher

1. Clayton Biglow....................... 86.5 pts. 2. (Tie) Caleb Bennett.......................... 86 Orin Larsen......................................86 STEER WRESTLING 1. Dakota Eldridge.............22.7 sec. on 4 2. Juan Alcazar Jr............................. 24.0 3. Nick Guy....................................... 24.2 TEAM ROPING 1. C. Snow/H. Koch.............31.3 sec. on 4 2. A. Tsinigine/K. Lockett..................34.0 3. S. Mitchell/C. Doescher.................. 34.3 SADDLE BRONC RIDING 1. Ryder Wright......................... 87.5 pts. 2. Rusty Wright................................... 87 3. Jesse Wright.................................86.5 TIE-DOWN ROPING 1. Blake Ash...................... 40.9 sec. on 4 2. Riley Pruitt....................................41.5 3. Two tied at.................................... 41.8 BARREL RACING 1. Jessie Telford. ............. 50.67 sec. on 4 2. Megan Champion. ...................... 51.19 3. Stevi Hillman.............................. 51.26 BULL RIDING 1. Jordan Spears.......................... 88 pts. 2. Trey Kimzey.................................. 87.5 3. Two tied at....................................... 86

Matt Cohen photo

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ProRodeo Sports News 5/3/2019

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