Grand Canyon Professional Rodeo Association Finals Moves to Buckeye, Arizona

GCPRA to crown year end champions this weekend.

The Buckeye Equestrian and Events Center is under new ownership and has taken on a whole new look over the past few months. This weekend the facility will be hosting the Grand Canyon Professional Rodeo Association (GCPRA) finals. With a whopping $52,000 in added money, the cowboy and cowgirls are looking to cash in and take home championships.

The festivities kicked off Thursday night with the back number ceremony and jacket party. The contestants all competed in the first round, Friday, October 27 and will continue through Sunday with three full rounds. Saturday morning will host the Exceptional Rodeo featuring special needs individuals who will participate in various stations of events and experience horses and the western lifestyle. Kaleb Austin will take the stage following the last bucking bull to entertain the crowd with a concert. The event will finish up Sunday with the awards ceremony at 5 pm.

Coming into the finals, the top 15 contestants in each event who have competed at six or more GCPRA lead sanctioned rodeos, will take the stage to determine who will be crowned the year end champions. Each event has $4,000 added with the round win in events with 15 entered boasting a check for $850 – this makes most of the events anyone’s game to be crowned number one Sunday evening.

The bareback riding is led by a cowboy from Toalea, Arizona - Cauy Betony. Attending a total of seven rodeos, the cowboy picked up checks totaling $3,264 giving him the lead over Brazos Winters who comes in second with $2,106. Winters picked up the win in the first round with a score of 80 and added $520 to his standings.

The calf roping is a much tighter race with multiple talented cowboys having a legitimate chance at the title. Kalai Nobriga who calls Kealakekua, Hawaii home comes in leading the standings with $3,869. Following close behind is Kass Newman with an even $3,800 and well-known veteran Joseph Parsons with $3,092. Round one went to Colter Sellers who roped and tied his calf in 9.0 seconds to earn $880. Parsons was second, Nobriga third and Kaohu Haalilio finished out the top four. No doubt it will come down to the last calf on Sunday to determine the champion.

The association offers incentive events in the calf roping, team roping, and barrel race. The incentive offers sometimes older or much younger cowboys the opportunity to compete at the rodeos and still be able to win some checks. Tyler Tool has a commanding lead with $4,908 total earnings over Canon Freeland who has earned $3,293. The incentive events compete in the slack at the finals which occurs Friday at 2 p.m., Saturday at 11 a.m., and Sunday at 9 a.m.

The big man’s event of steer wrestling is led by Jace Bleil who went to nine rodeos and earned $3,439. Casey Collins is close behind in second place with $2,960. Bleil backed into the box prepared for round one and topped the competition with his 3.8 second run to deposit $730 and extend his lead.

The leader in the breakaway earned more than any other event leader in the association. Kadin Jodie roped her way to $7,780 in paychecks. Sierra Spratt is the cowgirl with the best chance of catching Jodie in the standings. Spratt picked up checks totaling $5,899 this year and has plenty of experience roping under pressure. Neither of the leaders placed in the first round. 

Cheyenne Blackmore smoked a run with a 2.3 second time with the fourth-place finisher being just a mere 2.9 seconds. Blackmore has been a member of the association for the past five years. 

“I rode a horse named Stacy that belongs to my husband’s grandma. I’ve been able to ride her for the last three years. She is 12 years old and solid. She runs really hard and flat across the line. She makes it easy to rope!” Blackmore’s game plan for the rest of the finals is to stay aggressive and take one calf at a time.

As always, the barrel racers bring stiff competition to the arena. Ashely Haller and Kiersten Pettus are split by a mere $353 coming into the finals. Regardless of the names at the top, the competition will be tough throughout the entire top 15 just as round one proved. The fastest cowgirl around three barrels was Allison Resor with her 17.47 followed by Kiersten Pettus at 17.54. The incentive barrel race is being led by Dr. Renee Freeland, DVM who has picked up checks for $2,069. The top six incentive barrel racers are only separated by just a touch more than $1,000 making the title within reach for several.

The open team roping heading is led by Michael Calmelat who has an impressive lead where he has earned a total of $7,577 and the second-place finisher, Monty James, follows with $3,909. The heeling standings are a little tighter where Lil Michael Calmelat leads by about $1,100. The incentive team roping is led by Josh Whipple in the heading and Sterling Fowlie in the heeling. This event will come down to the finals for sure to determine the champions.

The saddle bronc riding top four is split by $655 making this an event to watch! Jay Joaquin enters the finals with $2,997 followed by Sid Skiver, Slade Keith, and Chance West finished up the top four with $2,342. Of those in the top four, West took the highest placing of second with a 77-point ride to earn $458. Bryan Huey was top dog with his 79 points.

Caelan Reynolds is the leader in the bull riding having earned $4,956 this season. There were just six riders who compete at enough rodeos and entered the finals. The race will be between Reynolds and Hunter Kelly. Only two cowboys were tough enough to cover their bulls in round one and Kelly was one of them taking the win with 77 points and $730. Sawyer Sibley also rode for 8 seconds to score 74 points.