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Winning better than record breaking

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – Team roping header Justin Yost wasn’t bummed that he lost his arena record – twice – at the Farm-City Pro Rodeo in Hermiston, OR, over the Aug. 11-14 weekend. He was much too happy with what he won.

Yost and partner Kyle Crick came up with the best possible response to transitory disappointment by winning the two-head average at the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour Silver rodeo, presented by Justin Boots, and $4,303 apiece.

“It’s the first Tour rodeo I’ve ever won,” said Yost, 22. “I’ve wanted to win a buckle since I started in the PRCA (in 2007). They give away jackets to the champions at Hermiston, but, hey, I’m not complaining. This was just a great experience.”



Yost and Crick had a 4.4-second run in the first round, which was one-tenth of a second off the arena record Yost set with Jory Levy in 2008, but that was lost in the excitement when Trevor Brazile and Patrick Smith set a record of 3.9 and then JoJo LeMond and Cory Petska lowered it again to 3.7.

A 5.3-second run in post-rodeo slack Aug. 13 put Yost and Crick in first place in the average by one-tenth over Chad Masters and Jade Corkill, but when the young pair (Crick is 26) headed off to the Omak (WA) Stampede, LeMond and Petska had yet to make their second run.



“We didn’t know we’d held on to win until Hilary Tryan (Travis’ wife) texted my wife (Nicole) in Omak,” Yost said. “Team roping gets faster all the time. With guys like JoJo, Derrick (Begay), Travis and Trevor, you can never count on a time holding up. It’s hard to win out here with all this talent. Nobody backs off, nobody hesitates.”

A fourth-place finish at the Missoula (MT) Stampede brought total weekend earnings for Yost and Crick to $6,230. Yost stayed 21st among PRCA headers but cut the margin between him and the 15th spot to about $6,000 while also moving from 27th in the Tour standings to 17th. Crick jumped from 22nd to 17th in the world and from 26th to 16th in the Tour standings.

“We were about $9,000 out of the 15th spot (in the world standings) going into last week, and I kind of figure that if we average about $3,500 a week for the rest of the season, we have a chance to make it to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

“I want to become the first cowboy from Pennsylvania (he lives in Mount Morris) ever to qualify for the NFR. If I make it, I’ll carry that Pennsylvania flag with great pride in the grand entry.”

Team roping was not the only event to see a new entry in the record book. Bradley Harter won the saddle bronc riding with an 88-point effort on Kesler Rodeo’s Star Burst, which tied the arena record set by Dan Mortensen in 2005 and extended his lead in the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour standings.

“Everything is feeling great,” Harter told the Tacoma (WA) News-Tribune. “I’ve ridden through injuries, and typically I haven’t had a lot of luck here in Hermiston. But thank God I stayed on top (this time).”

The other winners at the Farm-City Arena were bareback rider Joe Gunderson (85 points), steer wrestler Trevor Knowles (7.5 seconds on two head), tie-down roper Shank Edwards (18.1 seconds on two head), barrel racer Brenda Mays (34.69 seconds on two runs) and bull rider Kanin Asay (88 points). Edwards also won the all-around title with earnings of $5,723.

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – Team roping header Justin Yost wasn’t bummed that he lost his arena record – twice – at the Farm-City Pro Rodeo in Hermiston, OR, over the Aug. 11-14 weekend. He was much too happy with what he won.

Yost and partner Kyle Crick came up with the best possible response to transitory disappointment by winning the two-head average at the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour Silver rodeo, presented by Justin Boots, and $4,303 apiece.

“It’s the first Tour rodeo I’ve ever won,” said Yost, 22. “I’ve wanted to win a buckle since I started in the PRCA (in 2007). They give away jackets to the champions at Hermiston, but, hey, I’m not complaining. This was just a great experience.”

Yost and Crick had a 4.4-second run in the first round, which was one-tenth of a second off the arena record Yost set with Jory Levy in 2008, but that was lost in the excitement when Trevor Brazile and Patrick Smith set a record of 3.9 and then JoJo LeMond and Cory Petska lowered it again to 3.7.

A 5.3-second run in post-rodeo slack Aug. 13 put Yost and Crick in first place in the average by one-tenth over Chad Masters and Jade Corkill, but when the young pair (Crick is 26) headed off to the Omak (WA) Stampede, LeMond and Petska had yet to make their second run.

“We didn’t know we’d held on to win until Hilary Tryan (Travis’ wife) texted my wife (Nicole) in Omak,” Yost said. “Team roping gets faster all the time. With guys like JoJo, Derrick (Begay), Travis and Trevor, you can never count on a time holding up. It’s hard to win out here with all this talent. Nobody backs off, nobody hesitates.”

A fourth-place finish at the Missoula (MT) Stampede brought total weekend earnings for Yost and Crick to $6,230. Yost stayed 21st among PRCA headers but cut the margin between him and the 15th spot to about $6,000 while also moving from 27th in the Tour standings to 17th. Crick jumped from 22nd to 17th in the world and from 26th to 16th in the Tour standings.

“We were about $9,000 out of the 15th spot (in the world standings) going into last week, and I kind of figure that if we average about $3,500 a week for the rest of the season, we have a chance to make it to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

“I want to become the first cowboy from Pennsylvania (he lives in Mount Morris) ever to qualify for the NFR. If I make it, I’ll carry that Pennsylvania flag with great pride in the grand entry.”

Team roping was not the only event to see a new entry in the record book. Bradley Harter won the saddle bronc riding with an 88-point effort on Kesler Rodeo’s Star Burst, which tied the arena record set by Dan Mortensen in 2005 and extended his lead in the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour standings.

“Everything is feeling great,” Harter told the Tacoma (WA) News-Tribune. “I’ve ridden through injuries, and typically I haven’t had a lot of luck here in Hermiston. But thank God I stayed on top (this time).”

The other winners at the Farm-City Arena were bareback rider Joe Gunderson (85 points), steer wrestler Trevor Knowles (7.5 seconds on two head), tie-down roper Shank Edwards (18.1 seconds on two head), barrel racer Brenda Mays (34.69 seconds on two runs) and bull rider Kanin Asay (88 points). Edwards also won the all-around title with earnings of $5,723.