Bareback rider Sam Petersen took the lead in the event in the Tuesday, July 2, kickoff of the St. Paul Rodeo.
Petersen scored 86.5 points on the Four Star Rodeo Co. bronc Rand the Man to set the pace for the week’s competition in the popular event.
Petersen, 20, bypassed rodeos in North Dakota and Colorado to ride Rand the Man in St. Paul.
“That’s an awesome horse,” he said. “I had a great opportunity, coming here, and I think I capitalized on it.”
Last year, the Helena, Montana, native man finished the season in 19th place and missed qualifying for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, the pro rodeo’s world championship. That provided motivation and fire for this year.
“I have a lot to prove,” he said.
Petersen travels with fellow bareback rider Weston Timberman, who scored 82 points Tuesday. Timberman, a Columbus, Montana, native, leads the Resistol Rookie Race in his event. He finished the 2023 Resistol Rookie Race in fifth place.
In the steer wrestling competition, a Wisconsin native leads the pack. Colorado resident Nick Guy logged a 4.4-second time on his first run and 4.3 seconds on his second, both during slack on Tuesday morning, to set the pace with a combined time of 8.7 seconds on two runs.
Guy’s effort came despite getting little sleep in the run-up to the competition. Guy and traveling partners and fellow steer wrestlers Austin Eller and Gage Hesse competed in Wyoming on Monday evening, July 1, then drove 12 hours to get to St. Paul, pulling in at about 3 a.m.
“I’ll be honest,” Guy said. “It seems like throughout my career, some of the bigger runs have come in the morning slacks after I drive all night. I’m a morning person, so it seems like if I can get a couple hours of sleep between 2 and 5 in the morning, I do well. I like running them in the morning.”
Guy, 39, was aboard a 10-year-old palomino, a horse he purchased earlier this year from a Nebraska stock dealer.
“It’s taken me a couple weeks to figure him out,” he said. “I’ve been making some good runs on him, placing here and there. He fits my style really good.”
With it being the richest part of the pro rodeo season during the Independence Day holidays, contestants are busy competing at as many rodeos as they can get to.
Guy is no different. He flew south to compete in Prescott, Arizona, on Wednesday evening. Then it’s off to Oakley, Utah, where his wife, Alyssa, and their 1-month-old son are waiting with the truck and trailer, to go to Calgary, Alberta, where he’ll compete at the Calgary Stampede.
“It takes a village … and it takes a lot of plans and everything’s got to work out,” to get cowboys and girls to the region’s events," he said.
Guy has qualified for eight Wrangler National Finals Rodeos. His hope is that this year will mark nine.
“I’m down there in the standings aways, about 40th (in the world),” he said. “I have some winning to do, but if a guy starts placing at rodeos like St. Paul, then you know you can make it to where you want to be."
Other high scores and fast times from slack and the first night in St. Paul were bull rider Caleb McCaslin, (81 points; tie-down roper Nick Achille, 8.3 seconds; breakaway roper Britni Carlson, 3.2 seconds; saddle bronc rider Layton Green, 81.5 points; team ropers Marcus Theriot tied with the team of Cole Curry and Jack Graham and Jason Duby at 5.4 seconds; barrel racer Emily Beisel logged a time of 17.20 seconds.
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