CHEYENNE, Wyo. — For steer wrestler Denard Butler on Saturday, the moment was never going to be too much for him.
Even in front of an announced crowd of 15,308 people who checked out the first day of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association rodeo Saturday afternoon at Frontier Park Arena as part of Cheyenne Frontier Days, the 38-year-old cowboy from Checotah, Oklahoma, was cool, calm and collected.
His time of 6.5 seconds in one of rodeo’s fastest events — which booked him a trip to next week’s semifinals and had him atop the event leaderboard after Day 1 — was so routine, in fact, that he likened it to another sport entirely. It makes sense that Butler was so zoned in on his mindset; after all, he holds a master’s degree in psychology.
“When you’re in the moment right there, you just kind of let your subconscious take over, if that makes any sense,” Butler said. “You’ve done it so much, it’s like shooting free throws. You do it so much that it just comes. You just let your body take over.”
Butler was one of the many rodeo athletes that qualified for at least another day at Frontier Days as the 2022 competition at the “Daddy of ’em All” began, with many of the world’s top-ranked talent — both in terms of man and beast — showcasing their skills on one of the sport’s biggest stages.
All competitors were focused on getting to the next round, but for some cowboys in particular, they also had scores to settle. Texan bull rider Jeff Askey, for instance, was bucked off the bull Roulette on New Year’s Day at the Texas Circuit Finals in Waco, Texas.
Seven months later, the two met again in Cheyenne, though it was Askey who got the better of the bull this time around, with the world’s No. 4–ranked rider staying on for the full eight seconds to clinch the day’s top spot with a score of 87.5.
But to Askey, who said he doesn’t tend to study film of bull bucking patterns in advance of rodeos, the qualified ride was simply all in a day’s work.
“I’d been on that bull back in the wintertime and I honestly didn’t even remember him,” Askey said. “I know he’ll turn back either direction; today, he kind of started right, then went left. [He] was wild and all over the place, but I was just trying to hold on and get to the whistle.”
The world’s largest outdoor rodeo tends to bring in some former world champions by nature, and some that competed Saturday — like two-time saddle bronc world-title winner Zeke Thurston — put on a show to further solidify their status as the elite of the crop of athletes.
Thurston’s initial return to Wyoming after competing in (and winning) the saddle bronc competition earlier this month at the Cody Stampede was a success, with the Canadian scoring an 87.0 — 3.5 points ahead of runner-up and Casper native Q Taylor — in one of the most impressive outputs of the opening day’s events.
“He’s not easy; little horse is tricky [and] bucks lots of guys off,” Thurston said of his opponent, named Cracker Jack. “You kind of know what they feel like. Every horse has a different feeling and stuff, and you remember them feelings, you know? That little horse there, he takes big, long jumps but [is] real electric, he gets in the air and kicks hard. … But yeah, I mean, every horse, the basics still apply.”
The second day of nine in rodeo competition held as part of Frontier Days begins at 1 p.m. Sunday at Frontier Park Arena.
CHEYENNE FRONTIER DAYS, RODEO DAY 1 RESULTS
Bareback Riding (Top four advance to semifinals)
- 1. Tilden Hooper – 88.0
- 2. Ty Pope – 86.0
- 3. Tim O’Connell – 84.5
- 4. Rocker Steiner – 84.5
Steer Wrestling (Top four advance to semifinals)
- 1. Denard Butler – 6.5
- 2. Walt Arnold – 6.7
- 3. Colten Eugene Leach – 6.8
- 4. Emmett D. Edler – 7.0
Team Roping (Top four advance to semifinals)
- 1. Rio Nutter/Daine A. McNenny – 10.4
- 2. Jon Peterson/Levi O’Keeffe – 10.7
- 3. Britt Williams/Cayden Cox – 11.6
- 4. Brayden Parker/Dustin K. Searcy – 13.0
Saddle Bronc (Top four advance to semifinals)
- 1. Zeke Thurston – 87.0
- T-2. Q Taylor – 83.5
- T-2. Tanner Butner – 83.5
- T-4. Kolby Wanchuk – 82.5
- T-4. Chase Brooks – 82.5
Tie-Down Roping (Top four advance to semifinals)
- 1. Blake Ash – 12.9
- 2. Kase Bacque – 13.3
- 3. Kalai Nobriga – 13.6
- 4. Jade Lyon – 13.7
Barrel Racing (Top four advance to semifinals)
- 1. Leslie Smalygo – 17.38
- 2. Paige Jones – 17.50
- 3. Lisa Lockhart – 17.67
- 4. Michelle Merrick – 17.82
Breakaway Roping (Top four advance to semifinals)
- 1. Angie Green – 3.9
- 2. Rheagan Cotton – 4.3
- T-3. Alli Masters – 4.8
- T-3. Sierra Galusha – 4.8
Bull Riding (Top six advance to semifinals)
- 1. Jeff Askey – 87.5
- 2. Colton Kelly – 87.0
- 3. Garrett Smith – 86.5
- 4. Dawson Gleaves – 85.0
- 5. Koby Radley – 84.5
- 6. Boudreaux Campbell – 83.5
