About: Ted

DUNCAN, Okla. – With less than a month remaining in the Prairie Circuit season, the races for the 2017 regional championships are coming down to the wire. The most heated contests may be for those cowboys and cowgirls on the bubble to qualify for the Chisholm Trail Ram Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo, set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19-Saturday, Oct. 21, at the Stephens County Arena in Duncan. You see, it’s an honor for the best regional contestants to make their way to Duncan every fall. It offers a chance at big bucks and the biggest prizes of all – the year-end title in each discipline or the average championship at the regional finale, which is awarded to the contestants who have the best three-round cumulative score or cumulative time. Those two individuals not only claim coveted championships, but they then advance on to the RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo, which takes place next spring in Kissimmee, Fla. That’s important in that any contestant in the Prairie Circuit field has a chance to win the average title. One of the toughest events in the race to Duncan is tie-down roping, where Comanche, Okla., cowboy Ryan Jarrett has a solid lead for the championship. Still, there are six cowboys who are battling for that 12th position in the championship, all separated by less than $1,700. As of this week, Lane Jeffrey of Wilburton, Okla., is 11th with $4,349. He is followed by Billy Hamilton, Perry Dietz, Blake Eliason, Cody Shelley and Shade Etbauer – all are within range of claiming those bottom two spots for the circuit finale. The chase for the steer wrestling year-end title will come down to how well the top performers do during the regional finals. J.D. Struxness leads the standings with just shy of $14,000, but the No. 5 man, Cole Edge, is just $3,000 behind. In essence, a cowboy on a roll could make up about $8,000 in just three days in Duncan. But there are more than nine cowboys just trying to squeeze their way into qualifying for the circuit finals. Richard Coats sits 10th in the bulldogging standings with $7,781, while Jeff Miller is 19th and less than $3,000 behind. Other leaders heading into the final few weeks of the 2017 campaign are bareback rider Steven Dent of Mullen, Neb.; header Coleman Proctor of Pryor, Okla; heeler Reagan Ward of Edmond, Okla.; saddle bronc rider Hardy Braden of Welch, Okla.; bull rider Kyle Ziegler of Atwood, Kan.; steer roper Chet Herren of Pawhuska, Okla.; and barrel racer Tracy Nowlin of Nowata, Okla.

GUYMON, Okla. – For just the third time in its history, a Miss Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo has earned the Miss Rodeo Oklahoma title. Taylor Spears, a 20-year-old agriculture communications junior at Oklahoma State University, will begin her reign in January, just days before her 21st birthday. In all the hoopla, this is another chapter in the storybook life of a rodeo queen. “My sister was a rodeo queen before me,” Spears said. “By default, I wanted to do everything my sister did. When she got older, she got involved in a lot of other things in school. I decided that while all those other things were fun, they weren’t for me. I just kept going on. I’ve been going to queen pageants since I was 7 or 8 years old.” She’s been successful at it, too. She first served as Miss Rodeo Oklahoma Sweetheart, advanced to Miss Rodeo Oklahoma Teen and then became Miss Rodeo Oklahoma Princess. She’s climbed the next rung up the ladder and will hold the highest title in the Sooner State through 2018; with that, she became the first person to have owned all four titles in Oklahoma. That December – which is still 15 months away – she will hope to continue living out her dream as Miss Rodeo America. “It’s been a fun, growing dream,” Spears said. “It’s very surreal to me to be Miss Rodeo Oklahoma. I never imagined when I entered this summer that I would win. It’s very humbling, but it’s also very exciting for me at the same time.” She is from Cleveland, Okla., a town of more than 3,000 on the Arkansas River just northeast of Tulsa. It’s 300 miles from her home to Guymon, which hosts the annual Pioneer Days Rodeo each May. That’s quite a drive to be part of a ProRodeo Hall of Fame event, but it was important for Spears. “Guymon has been a pageant that’s been on my radar for years,” she said. “I went twice before, in 2010 as Teen and 2013 as Princess. The pageant coordinator, Becky Robinson, and Jada Breeden (executive director of the Guymon Chamber of Commerce) were very accommodating, and I got to meet Becky’s mom. “I was part of the family, but more importantly, you knew their queen was going to be supported. That’s something I cherish most.” It will come in quite handy as she spends her 2018 touring the state, primarily, and the country while sharing her love for the game she represents. “I’ll be traveling outside of Oklahoma to some of the bigger rodeos in the PRCA,” said Spears, who joins Sherri Lynn Stewart and Stacey Schneeber as previous Miss Pioneer Days Rodeo winners who were selected as Miss Rodeo Oklahoma. “Being able to live the drams I’ve only imagined, I’m excited to experience everything and put my own personal twist on it. “What I want to do when I’m done with the pageants changes depending on the day. Ultimately, I want to be a news reporter, starting with local news stations with the end goal being a national news reporter.” Taylor Spears is off to a running start, and she’s excited about the next year – or two – of the experiences her life will bring her.

KENNEWICK, Wash. – Kris Furr isn’t content being one of the best competitors in Bullfighters Only. He wants to win the world championship. Based on his performance this August, he’s going to be a contender by the time the season wraps up. In less than a month, the Hamptonville, N.C., man has won three event titles – most recently he won BFO-Kennewick, which was part of the Benton County Fair and Rodeo this past week. “I’ve been working my way into the top five, one event at a time,” said Furr, who sits fifth in the BFO Pendleton Whisky World Standings. He earned the championship with an 85-point bout against WAR Fighting Bulls’ Two Timer, a quick and aggressive bull that stayed right on Furr’s heels throughout the 60-second bout. “He caught me there at the end and gave me one heck of a hooking, but that was fun, too,” he said. “It could’ve been better and could’ve been prettier, but I knew it was going to be tough in Kennewick. I’d seen the videos from last year, and I knew the arena was going to be tiny. “I also knew they were bringing some young, hot and fresh bulls. It’s more difficult when you’ve got bulls that hot in a smaller arena, because it’s hard to get separation. I thought it made it more fun even though it was harder.” As Two Timer came sprinting out of the chute, Furr threw a solid fake, but the animal turned back quickly. Furr made a few rounds with the bull, then had a step-through in tight quarters. More fakes, rounds and back fakes followed, then the bull got the better of the North Carolinian at the end of the fight. “The thing about those small arenas is that as soon as you call for him, he’s on you the whole time,” he said. “It gives the bull more of an advantage. It’s definitely a little different. The fight went by so fast, because he was on me from the word go.” That’s the way all three fights went Friday night. Furr and his fellow bullfighters – Dayton Spiel and Alex McWilliams – all took a hooking. “The bulls WAR brought were all hot, all on you,” Furr said. “That’s exactly what you want, and that’s what makes the bullfights so much fun for everyone.” RESULTS 1. Kris Furr, 85 points 2. Dayton Spiel, 78 3. Alex McWilliams, 77

HEMPSTEAD, Texas – The Waller County Fair Board has one thing on its mind when it comes to planning this year’s festivities: Give back to the community. “This is the biggest fundraiser for the youth and scholarship program in Waller County,” said Dustin Standley, the fair board’s president. “We gave away over $75,000 in scholarships last year.” This year’s Waller County Fair and Rodeo is set for Friday, Sept. 29-Saturday, Oct. 7, at the Waller County Fairgrounds in Hempstead. It’s a true regional showcase that attracts thousands of fair-goers each year, and there’s good reason for it. While there are the traditional livestock shows, games, carnival rides and rodeo-related activities, the fair and rodeo boasts of some of the greatest entertainment opportunities available in southeast Texas. That includes top-rated musical acts: Jason Cassidy, Shenandoah and Wade Bowen on Saturday, Sept. 30 Rick Trevino on Thursday, Oct. 5 Kevin Robinson and The Voice’s 2016winner Sundance Head on Friday, Oct. 6 Glen Templeton and Josh Ward on Saturday, Oct. 7. “It’s really exciting to have this kind of musical lineup for our fair and rodeo,” Standley said. “It’s what helps draw people to experience all the other things we have going on, but I think once they get here they’ll see we have a lot to offer them.” Adult admission is just $10, with children 6-12 and seniors admitted for $5. That stands as a huge value for the price, especially considering all the activities and fun that awaits each person as they arrive through the gate. There are also season passes that can help pass along the savings to those who plan to attend multiple days – $25 per person in advance and just $30 at the gate. “We want to keep prices reasonable so everybody can come enjoy the fun, the food and the concerts,” Standley said. “We are very proud to be part of the fair board and put on this type of entertainment for our community and those visiting our community. “All the hard work and dedication we put into this is to provide the scholarships. The youth are our future, and the youth is going to be the backbone of who we’re going to be when we’re older, so we are investing in that.”

HERMISTON, Ore. – Kris Furr made the most of a week of Bullfighters Only competition. After winning the championship at BFO-Sidney, Iowa, the North Carolina man followed it in a dominating fashion, claiming the BFO-Hermiston championship through the two-day competition last week. He’s now No. 5 in the Pendleton Whisky World Standings. “It feels great to win both those events,” Furr said. “The one thing I wanted to do was be consistent. I don’t want to be just the middle of the pack. I want people to know I’m a competitor and that I’m there to win.” He did just that at the event held in association with the Farm-City ProRodeo. Furr won both go-rounds to walk away with the overall championship. In all, he walked away with $3,500 in Hermiston, which shot him up the standings. He won the first round with an 84-point fight against WAR Fighting Bulls’ War Party, then maneuvered around WAR’s Wolverine for 85 points to earn the second-round victory. “I’ve been dying to get in front of WAR’s bulls,” Furr said. “I’ve seen a bunch of videos of those bulls, and they just look fun to get around. I was glad I got a shot and came out on top.” In his few days off between Sidney and Hermiston, Furr found some time to work on his game. “I met (fellow bullfighter) Dayton Spiel in South Dakota, and we went to the gym while we were there,” he said. “I figured out what I was messing up on jumping those bulls in Sidney, and I fixed that.” It paid off. “My first bull was one bullfighters would love to have every day,” Furr said. “I had to drag all the points out of my second bull that I could, but it worked out for me. The goal is winning the BFO world championship, and while No. 1 man Weston Rutkowski has a big lead in the Pendleton Whisky World Standings, at least Furr has a shot. That’s all he can hope for as a first-year bullfighter in the BFO. HERMISTON RESULTS First round: 1. Kris Furr, 84 points on WAR Fighting Bulls’ War Party; 2. Justin Josey, 74; 3. Dayton Spiel, 74. Second round: 1. Kris Furr, 85 points on WAR Fighting Bulls’ Wolverine; 2. Dayton Spiel, 78; 3. Justin Josey, 74. Average: 1. Kris Furr, 169 points on two fights; 2. Dayton Spiel, 152; 3. Justin Josey, 150.