The top 88 professional rodeo cowboys and cowgirls competed in Cody for about $125,000 in prize money at the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association’s Wrangler Champions Challenge.

The Champions Challenge has nine one-header rodeos where the top riders in the world are pitted against the best livestock. This year’s series landed in Cody on Sunday night for the first time ever.

Only the best of the best were invited to participate in this rodeo. Contestants qualified to ride in three different ways:

• By being one of the top seven in last year’s world standings.

• By being in first or second place in the Windham Weaponry High Performance World Standings 30 days before the rodeo.

• Or, by being of the top two cowboys in the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour standings 30 days before the rodeo.

With a solid lineup of riders and roughstock, this two-hour rodeo brought nonstop action for the packed stands.

Bownds bests the bulls

Chandler Bownds of Lubbock, Texas, went home with $5,440 in prize money and bragging rights for the top score in the bull riding event with 87 points on a bull named Ben Johnson.

“He was just a good bull; he was on the right, kicked out and stepped ahead a bit,” Bownds said. “I just kept hustling — we came here to win first, not go through the motions. I’m here to win, that’s the name of the game.”

Red Rum took Cody Teel of Kountze, Texas, for a wild ride that landed him in second place with 85.5 points and $4,160 — just a half-point lead on third place.

Joe Frost of Randlett, Utah, narrowly missed second place with his 85-point ride on Happy Tiger, which raked in $3,040.

Saddle bronc

Cody DeMoss had a heck of a ride on a bronc named Lunatic From Hell — which placed him well ahead of his competition in first place with 89 points and $3,944.

“It was a really good horse,” DeMoss said. “I’m happy to have the opportunity to get on the animal.”

Zeke Thurston of Big Valley, Alberta, Canada, placed second with 84 points and $3,016 followed by Rusty Wright of Milford, Utah, with 82.5 and $2,204 for third.

Seth Hardwick of Laramie had a chance to compete in his home-state and brought in a 77-point ride for eighth place.

“It could have went better, but there’s lots of rodeos left — can’t let one get you down,” Hardwick said. He will be heading to rodeos in Idaho, Oregon and Washington state in the coming weeks.

Bareback

Kaycee Feild of Spanish Fork, Utah, narrowly won the bareback event with 87.5 points followed close behind by Tim O’Connell of Zwingle, Iowa, with 87.

This wasn’t Feild’s first time riding on a bronc named Jim Dandy, so he knew what to expect from his 8-second ride.

“My goal was to get him going right away and show off a bit,” Feild said. “I hadn’t had a good week, but my draw was good — that’s one of the funnest ones to get on.”

The cooler weather on Sunday evening had the roughstock bucking more, which meant Feild was able to rack up some serious points for his $5,440 prize. 

“They feel froggy,” Feilds said. “An 18 or 19-pointer can become a 21-pointer.”

O’Connell agreed, the cooler weather meant better rides in the arena.

“He was a nice little horse, I’d been waiting a long time to ride him,” O’Connell said, happy to win $4,160 for his ride. “I’m feeling pretty blessed, it looked good.”

Jake Vold of Ponoka, Alberta, Canada, placed third with 86 and went home with $3,040. 

Martin takes the steer by the horns

Competition couldn’t have been tighter in the steer wrestling as the difference between first place and fifth place was only 1.1 seconds.

Casey Martin of Sulphur, Louisiana, was more than a half-second ahead of the game with his 4.9-second time — awarding him the $5,440 prize.

“I had a good start — and got the better of the steer this time,” Martin said. “Not a lot of technique, just need to get my feet on the ground.”

Second, third and fourth place were all within 0.3 seconds of each other, with a $2,000 difference in prize money.

Dakota W. Eldridge of Elko, Nevada, placed second in 5.5 seconds followed by Hunter Cure of Holliday, Texas, with 5.6 seconds and Luke Branquinho of Los Alamos, California, with 5.8 seconds. Those fractions of a second meant the difference between $4,160, $3,040 and $2,080 respectively.

Arizonians dominate the team roping

Four of the six cowboys in the top three team roping pairs hailed from Arizona and all nailed catches in under 7 seconds.

Jake Barnes and Junior Nogueira, both of Scottsdale, Arizona, left their competition in the dust with their 6.0-second time for a collective prize of $10,880.

It was a tight race for second place as Aaron Tsinigine of Tuba City, Arizona, and Clay O’Brien Cooper of Gardnerville, Nevada, clocked in at 6.7 seconds for $8,320 between the two.

Just fractions of a second behind were Derrick Begay of Seba Dalkai, Arizona, and Travis Woodard of Stockton, California, with 6.9 seconds for a total of $6,080 split.

All tied up in the tie down

It was nearly a three-way tie in the tie down roping event as Tuf Cooper and Matt Shiozawa tied for first with 8.3 seconds each, followed closely behind by Hunter Herrin with 8.4 seconds.

Cooper of Decatur, Texas, and Shiozawa of Chubbuck, Idaho, both left the Cody rodeo grounds with $4,800 each. That 0.1-second difference left Herrin with $3,040 for third place.

Barreling around the corners

A half-second was all it took to mean the difference between first place and third place in the barrel racing. The crowd roared as Jill Welsh of Parker, Arizona, flew across the arena for her first place time of 17.5 seconds — just 0.4 seconds ahead of second place’s time and good for the $5,440 cash prize.

Mary Walker and Michele McLeod were neck-and-neck for second and third place with a 0.02-second difference. Walker, of Ennis, Texas, walked away with the second place prize of $4,160 thanks to her 17.54-second ride. McLeod of Whitesboro, Texas, landed third with her 17.56-second ride for $3,040.