ST. PAUL – Another season of riding, roping and rounding barrels came to an exciting end in St. Paul on Sunday, Sept. 1 as the Lakeland Rodeo Association wrapped up the summer with Showdown 2024, with only one former Showdown champion - steer wrestler Casey Lawes, who collected his first championship saddle in 2019 – in the winners’ lineup.
Each of the five performances began and ended with the rough stock events, and although there were only four contestants in the Bareback Riding at this year’s finals, they definitely got the shows off to a breathtaking start. Jase Lomheim of Hughenden was the only rider to make the eight seconds in all five performances, and although both he and Chad Greenslade of Rocky View County, with four completed rides, scored identical 73.75 rides on Sunday, Lomheim took home the win, Greenslade placing second.
A pair of high school students from Bluffton, Alberta dominated the Novice Horse Riding, with Quaide Skjonsberg coming into the finals in first place, and adding five first place scores in the finals for the 2024 championship, Denten Skjonsberg continuing his second place season into the finals with five second-place rides to place second out of six competitors.
The Junior Steer Riding season leader didn’t quite make it to the championship, Levi Robbins if Daysland finishing the finals in second spot, after season runner-up Ryder Toplinski of Grande Prairie wrapped up the show with a 71-point ride on Sunday to take the overall win.
Another season leader stayed in the lead right up to the final performance in the Saddle Bronc, Clay Greenslade of Strathmore winning the first three performances with scores of 76.25, 76 and 78, plus a third place 71.25 on Saturday evening and although Australian cowboy Jack Collins, coming into the finals in 10th spot, had the top score in his fifth successful ride of the weekend. While Greenslade didn’t make it to the eight-second buzzer on Sunday, his accumulated 140 points earned him the Showdown championship, with Collins placing second.
The Showdown bulls were once again something to be reckoned with, with only 20 successful rides for the 10 contestants over the weekend. Jhett Wheeler of Sylvan Lake came into the finals in second place and placed second both Thursday and Friday with scores of 78.25 and 79.75, but added the weekend’s top Bull Riding score of 83.75 on Sunday to take the championship. Kaden Bude of the County of Grande Prairie worked his way up from eighth for the season with two third place scores and Saturday’s top score of 81.75 to place second overall at Showdown.
Roping the wins
Tie-down roper Aaron Mosicki of Warburg led the pack coming in, and tied up the season win with four successful runs, to edge out both the second and third placing ropers, with fourth-place Blake Zieffle of Consort coming second at Showdown with one first place time and one second for the weekend.
Ladies Brekaway roping went to Wacey Nickel of Evansburg, with two winning and one second-place runs, with Teagan Poitras of Ponoka, to the delight of her Elk Point family members, placing second overall when she added Sunday’s fastest time of 2.8 seconds to Saturday’s third place finish.
Steele Duncan of Athabasca won the Junior Breakaway with five successful runs, ranging from 2.4 to 5.7 seconds, with Bree Keith of Clyde coming second with Sunday’s top time of 2.8seconds added to Friday’s second fastest 3.3 seconds.
Team roping is always a challenge, but top times of 5.1 and 5.9 in the first and last performances and a 10.1 in the second gave Cole Brain of Bellis and Randon Ross of Botha the 2024 championship, edging out season leaders Rocky Ross of Botha and Caleb Fawcett of Stettler, with one win, one second and one fourth, by just 10 points.
All in the timing
Amanda Crowe of Didsbury is the 2924 Ladies Barrel Racing champion, with three top times and one third for the weekend, the third-for-the-year finisher moving ahead of second place Crystal Loughran of Mayerthorpe, who had one first and one second place run on the weekend.
Maggie Cartwright of Hay Lakes took home the Junior Barrel Racing win with a total of 140 points for the weekend, just 10 points ahead of Grace Havens of Madden, both young ladies gathering points with every run of a successful weekend.
Taydee Bezjack of Bowden accumulated three first place and one third place runs over the weekend to win the Peewee Barrel Racing with Kayl a Boxma of Halkirk coming second with one win, two second and one fourth place times.
Casey Lawes of Provost made a big jump up from eighth place in the standings to take the Steer Wrestling championship with two first place times of 3.8 and 4 .1 and two seconds of 5.9 and 5. 1 seconds, to double the points collected by third for the season Bryce Kulbacki of Neepawaa, Man., who added fourth and third place points to his opening night 4.4 second win.