{"id":21821,"date":"2025-06-13T17:16:25","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T17:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ute-mountain-roundup-rodeo-ignites-the-weekend\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:09:09","slug":"ute-mountain-roundup-rodeo-ignites-the-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ute-mountain-roundup-rodeo-ignites-the-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"Ute Mountain Roundup rodeo ignites the weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wyatt
Wyatt Nez of Flagstaff, Arizona, posted a ride of 85 points on Powder River Rodeo\u2019s bull No. 194 on Thursday night at the Ute Mountain Roundup rodeo in Cortez at the Montezuma County fairgrounds. Jessica Nix\/PRCA Photographer<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

CORTEZ \u2013 95 years and still growing \u2013 the Ute Mountain Roundup rodeo competitors made sure that the fans wouldn\u2019t have to wait long to see some incredible action.<\/p>\n

Last year, it took until Saturday before the fans witnessed a successful eight-second bull ride in the night\u2019s final event. In the 2025 edition of the UMR rodeo, it took one rider.<\/p>\n

Wyatt Nez, a bull rider from the Navajo Nation who calls Flagstaff, Arizona, home, electrified the night with a ride of 85 points on Powder River Rodeo\u2019s bull No. 194. Speaking with UMR public relations director Madelaine Gaskey after his big ride, Nez lauded the special moment, \u201cEvery time I nod my head, I\u2019m thinking about that eight-second buzzer and making sure I give it everything I\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Riley
Riley Barber from Blackfoot, Idaho jumps off his horse to wrestle his steer at the Ute Mountain Roundup rodeo on June 12 at the Montezuma County fairgrounds. Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Taylor
Taylor Winn from Annabello, Utah prepares to lasso his steer\u2019s hind legs during the team roping event at the Ute Mountain Roundup rodeo on June 12 at the Montezuma County fairgrounds. Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Nez joined a pair of other riders to post scoring rides on Thursday night, joining Brad Moreno\u2019s 76 and Mecate Trammell\u2019s 70.<\/p>\n

Along with the strong initial score posted by Nez, there were several other marks on Thursday will be difficult to unseat through the rest of the weekend. Wyoming cowboy Hunter Reaume posted a run of 10 seconds flat in tie down roping to best a field of six other runs that were under 12 seconds.<\/p>\n

World No. 2 team roping combination of Tanner Tomlinson and Travis Graves proved why the duo is a threat to win the NFR title this winter, posting a run of 4.4 seconds as the first team out of the gate.<\/p>\n

\"Cooper
Cooper Lane from Keller, Texas rides Rockin Cotton during the saddle bronc competition at the rodeo at the Ute Mountain Roundup rodeo on June 12 at the Montezuma County fairgrounds. Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"After
After a harrowing ride, Bronc Chuck Another Cord finally bucks off Stephen Graefen from Dwight, Illinois at the Ute Mountain Roundup rodeo on June 12 at the Montezuma County fairgrounds. Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A pair of efforts from the Thursday morning slack runs held up through the night, highlighted by Texas cowgirl Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi setting an arena record in barrel racing with a run of 17.17 seconds. Meanwhile, Keenesburg, Colorado\u2019s Brady Buum posted a 4.2 second steer wrestling takedown as the top four efforts in the event came in the morning session.<\/p>\n

\"Six-year-old
Six-year-old Savannah Stuckman holds on tight during the Mutton Bustin\u2019 event at Thursday night\u2019s rodeo at the Ute Mountain Roundup rodeo on June 12 at the Montezuma County fairgrounds. Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The evening\u2019s rodeo clown John Harrison tries to budge his horse companion during one of the many interludes between competitions at the Ute Mountain Roundup rodeo on June 12 at the Montezuma County fairgrounds. Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In breakaway roping, a tie between Grace Perez and Braylee Shepherd with each cowgirl posting times of 2.6 seconds set the stage for an exciting next two days in the event.<\/p>\n

In the bareback and saddle bronc events, Wyoming\u2019s Myles Carlson posted the best score to open the night\u2019s festivities with a ride of 78 points on Siete Lagos in bareback riding, while Australia\u2019s Joe MacQueen established the Day One best of 79.5 in the saddle bronc while riding Wackadoodle.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s rodeo action commences at 7 p.m., with Military Night being celebrated at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds. Among the many exciting elements of the night, the famed Wright family will be available for autographs from 5:30 \u2013 6 p.m. before they take to the arena in saddle bronc and bull riding.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Flagstaff\u2019s Nez headlines big opening salvo with electric bull ride<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,39,28,37,36],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-21821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77473,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21821\/revisions\/77473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21821"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=21821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}