Epic Event: Inaugural Cody Johnson Championship Awards Hundreds of Thousands

It was a weekend team ropers dream about and thanks to Cody Johnson, it turned into a reality.

Cody Johnson stands for a photo after being interviewed during CMA Fest at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Friday, June 7, 2024. / Nicole Hester / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

Epic. First class. Monumental. Spectacular. Those are just a few of the words that can be used to describe the inaugural CoJo. After the event concluded, there will be very few team ropers who don't know exactly what "The CoJo" refers to and if they don't, they will learn quickly.

The Cadence Bank Center in Belton, Texas was the home to the life-changing team roping event held over October 15 - 19. The qualifying round kicked things off where nearly 200 teams competed to be in the top 60 to move on to the short round competition.

A golf tournament at the Mill Creek Country Club in Salado, Texas was the next stop on October 16 for the star studded affair. The following day was more team roping.

Friday, October 18 was a full day for all involved. It started with the 10.5 Businessman's roping followed by an 8.5 incentive. The Little Legends took the stage with their dummy roping in the afternoon. The evening was a legendary event with cowboys and cowgirls looking sharp all dressed up and ready for the Champs for Charity Gala.

The final day showed off the Pro-Am Celebrity team roping followed by the top 60 short round competition of the CoJo Open roping.

When the last steer had been turned out literally hundreds of thousands of dollars had been awarded.

In the 10.5 with 8.5 incentive roping, Edgar Wislar and Kolton Sena left as the champions. The two Texas cowboys split $70,000 in prize money after dominating the field of ropers. They also loaded up their rigs with their new Cactus Trophy Saddles, custom guitars, Gist buckles, Cactus saddle pads, Resistol hats, HatPacs, and Turtlebox speakers.

When everything was said and done, the duo roped their four steers in a total of 31.7 seconds which was 5.83 seconds ahead of the field.

Sena didn't stop with just one check. The heeler also earned the Reserve Championship where he split an additional $50,000 with his header, Benny Tamez. In a press release from the CoJo team, Sena reflected on his time at the CoJo.

“It’s been a good journey. This is a blessing to win together. I felt the pressure to be clean, but I knew I just had to do my job and see how it played out.”

Just that roping alone awarded a total of $306,000 in prize money.

The Inaugural Pro-Am roping found amateurs drawing incredibly professionals to rope with and show off their skills. Clay Wier drew Denim Ross and the team roped the championship title by turning in an aggregate time of 21.6 seconds on three steers.

The amateur header understood the significance of the day, “This was the first pro-am roping I’ve ever competed in. It was so exciting to draw professionals who make a living roping. Roping with pros is a special opportunity and makes my job a lot easier.”

In the heeling event, Canadian Professional header Dawson Graham was paired with Joao Neto. After posting a 30.22 second aggregate, they were named the champions.

Both the headers and the heelers were awarded a Henry .44 Mag Golden Boy Rifle, a custom guitar, Gist buckle, and a $4,000 paycheck.

In total, $30,000 was paid out in prize money for the Pro-Am competition and literally got the crowd prepared for the stellar action to follow with the CoJo Open short rounds.

The incredible week of charity events and team roping concluded with the CoJo Open and it was a who's who of the team roping industry.

None were better than the team of Andrew Ward and Jake Long when the competition came to a close. Leaving Belton, Texas with $32,500 each along with a brand new Bill Fick Ford F350 Dually, Bloomer Trailers, Gist buckles, Cactus Saddles, Smarty Trainers, Turtlebox Speakers, Resistol Hat Pacs, Resistol Hats, Cactus Gear horse blankets, and Blue Otter sunglasses.

They needed the trucks just to haul all the prizes out!

The interviews with the contestants really said it all. Cody Johnson is doing big things for the industry and the ropers took notice.

Long had this to say to journalist Kendra Santos after winning the championship,

“We all grew up wanting to win a gold buckle, but a win like this, where between the cash and prizes we each won over $200,000—that’s a big deal. Cody’s a good dude, and he doesn’t act like he’s better than any of the rest of us. You’d never know he’s so dang famous, because back behind the chutes he’s just one of the guys. He’s great for the roping and rodeo industry.”

Co-champion Ward added, “Cody’s a really personable guy, and I’ve talked to him some over the years. When we were riding around the warmup arena on the first day, I couldn’t thank him enough for having us. He just says, ‘You guys are my people.’ How lucky are we that he feels like that? He really is one of us. And he’s doing a great thing for team ropers. We’re all so thankful already, and knowing Cody, it’ll just get bigger and better. If that’s possible, he’ll find a way.”