A steer jumps over a tumbling Kalane Anders of Cheyenne during steer wrestling competition on Thursday, July 27, 2023, at Frontier Park. Morman had no time on the run.
Marcos Costa of Iretama, Brazil, flips up a calf during tie-down roping on Thursday, July 27, 2023, at Frontier Park. Costa had a time of 12.0 on the run.
Kyle Bloomquist of Raymond, Minn., hits the ground during bareback bronc riding competition on Thursday, July 27, 2023, at Frontier Park. Bloomquist had no score on the ride.
Cameron Morman of Gen Ullin, N.D., competes in steer wrestling on Thursday, July 27, 2023, at Frontier Park. Morman had a time 5.4 on the run.
Michael Smith/For the Wyoming Tribune Eagle
A steer jumps over a tumbling Kalane Anders of Cheyenne during steer wrestling competition on Thursday, July 27, 2023, at Frontier Park. Morman had no time on the run.
Michael Smith/For the Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Marcos Costa of Iretama, Brazil, flips up a calf during tie-down roping on Thursday, July 27, 2023, at Frontier Park. Costa had a time of 12.0 on the run.
Michael Smith/For the Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Kyle Bloomquist of Raymond, Minn., hits the ground during bareback bronc riding competition on Thursday, July 27, 2023, at Frontier Park. Bloomquist had no score on the ride.
CHEYENNE — Karson Mebane had only a week’s notice that he had the opportunity to take a spot at Cheyenne Fronter Days after another saddle bronc rider suffered an injury.
The question for the San Luis Obispo, California, cowboy wasn’t whether he’d take that spot, it was how he was going to get to Cheyenne. Mebane had that settled after firing off nearly a dozen phone calls and text messages. He flew to Salt Lake City, where he was picked up by friends who were heading to CFD after competing in Ogden, Utah.
Mebane walked out of Frontier Park Arena with a big smile after scoring 85.5 points on Fettig Pro Rodeo’s Jet Stream to win the quarterfinal round.
“It was like, ‘I have to be there, I can’t pass that opportunity up,’” Mebane said. “I haven’t had the greatest year so far, so I wasn’t able to make it in the first time. When they called me as a replacement, I was damn sure going to make it work.”
Mebane’s struggles have been due to injuries, including a balky back and a pulled right hamstring. He also didn’t have money to go to all the rodeos he wanted. Mebane didn’t draw well at the ones he did enter.
He had no such problems Thursday.
“I saw (the horse) at the NFR Open in the bareback riding, and it wasn’t as good as I thought it could be,” he said. “But I talked to the stock contractor, and he said it was better in saddle bronc than bareback, and he was dang sure right. It was a delight to get on that horse.”
Tegan Smith of Winterset, Iowa, was given a re-ride option after scoring 55 points on his original draw. He capitalized on the opportunity by scoring 84 on his new horse. Smith was unavailable for an interview Thursday because he needed to immediately gather his gear and head to another rodeo.
Bull rider Boudreaux Campbell was the last cowboy out of the chute during Thursday’s performance. He was worth the wait, scoring 90 points on Dakota Pro Rodeo’s Melanie’s Dream to win the quarterfinal.
Campbell had seen Melanie’s Dream several times on the Professional Bull Riders circuit, and had been hopeful he’d get the chance to ride it.
“I’m glad I drew him here in Cheyenne because I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome,” Campbell said.
Melanie’s dream took a few jumps out of the chute before spending the rest of the eight seconds spinning to its left, away from Campbell’s riding hand.
“That’s what we like to call a rider-friendly bull,” he said. “When you draw a bull like that, you need to make it count. If you can ride those, they will pay you a lot of money. It’s not often you draw a dang good bull like that you can score 90 points on.”
Cameron Morman stopped the clock in 5.4 seconds to win steer wrestling. His time was a mere three-tenths of a second away from matching the arena record set by Rick Myhre in 2000.
Morman was eager to take his run Thursday because he had seen the steer several times, including one time he ran it in North Platte, Nebraska.
“He didn’t try very hard, my horse functioned great, and Bill Boldin did a great job hazing for me,” Morman said. “He didn’t run very hard and was good on the ground. I had seen him in Greeley (Colorado) and had him in North Platte (Nebraska). I didn’t do very well in North Platte, so I was able to get some revenge.”
Jayco Roper has been wearing khakis since he was 12 years old — including in the rodeo arena. It’s become a bit of a trademark for the Oktaha, Oklahoma, bareback rider.
“I’m not Jake from State Farm, I’m Jayco from the rodeo — there’s a difference,” Roper said with a laugh. “I literally don’t own a pair of jeans. This is what I wear all the time.”
Roper will be able to stock up on chinos after winning the quarterfinal with 84.5 points on King Wentz’s Red Velvet.
“Right when I double-grabbed, I figured it was going to be up there pretty well,” Roper said. “It felt awesome. When he left there, he was cracking them and was giving me a lot of time to get back to the neck.
“It felt awesome. I would like to get back on that horse every day of my life.”
Other winners
Bryana Lehrmann stopped the clock in 4.6 seconds to win breakaway roping Thursday. Shane Hanchey of Sulphur, Louisiana, won tie-down roping with a time of 11.2 seconds. Hanchey won the CFD title in 2018.
The tandem of Cooper and Tucker White won team roping in 8.1 seconds.
Wenda Johnson turned the cloverleaf pattern in 17.20 seconds to win barrel racing. She was the sixth contestant out of the alley Thursday. The performance was one of the fastest of the 127th anniversary CFD Rodeo, as there were nine times faster than 18 seconds. Ari-Anna Flynn also was sub-18, but was penalized 10 seconds for knocking over two barrels. Her official time was 27.46.
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