By Cheryl Schreter
Special To Ropers Sports News
Fortuna was beautiful. The annual event in Fortuna was two days filled with fun, camaraderie, cool weather, and great team roping events with buckles, stirrups and a saddle.
On Friday night, Marv and Donna Barton chose to spend their 38th wedding anniversary there amongst family and friends. There was a big potluck BBQ on Saturday where several chipped in delicious dishes, finishing with a bonfire, s’mores and ice cream.
The team ropers came out in hopes of winning a part of more than $11,000 in prizes and money that was given away for the two-day event. On Saturday there were five ropers in contention for the “Taco Bell” saddle. They were David Fonsen, Ben McWhorter, Lane Christiansen, Lonnie Manning and David Walters, as they were the top dollar winners of the day.
Sunday rolled in and so did the money for Fonsen, McWhorter, Christiansen and Manning. At the end of the day there was only one dollar, that is correct, just $1 separating Fonsen and McWhorter when Saturday and Sunday’s monies were combined. David came out with $707 and Ben won $706.
The first set of buckles to be won on Saturday were donated by David Walters of Pacific Timber and the recipients were Chad Lake and Ben McWhorter in the #5.5 with a #4 Incentive.
The second pot of the day was the Members Only Handicap Pick & Draw, and winners were Danny Goddard receiving the buckle sponsored by Shur-Loc Mini Storage and Adam Fitze won the heeling buckle sponsored by the Prior family.
The last pot of the day was the #10.5 Handicap Pick, where Lane Christiansen and Adam Fitze received beautiful wood carved stirrups sponsored by Randy Vann.
Sunday’s first pot was #5.5 with #4 Incentive. The Bushnell family (Donna Vann Bushnell is Bud’s daughter) donated the buckles for this event and the winners were Lonnie Manning and David Fonsen. The last pot of the weekend was the Members Only Pick & Draw. Les Schwab Tire of Fortuna generously sponsored the buckles won by Lonnie Manning and Adam Fitze.
Thank you everyone one who helped to make this a wonderful fifth year in Fortuna. We are truly blessed to have all prizes sponsored by such wonderful people who jumped in there and picked up the slack. David Walters of Pacific Timber, the Prior family, Christiansen Ranches, the Bushnell family, the Fitze family for Shur-Loc Mini Storage, Lon at Les Schwab Tires of Fortuna, Randy Vann and Les Shank of Taco Bell for sponsoring the Vaquero handcrafted saddle. It is our hope that you realize how appreciative we are of your support of this event. Our family just loves coming to Fortuna.
(Photo: www.depictionsbydon.com)
By Kendra Santos
Special To Ropers Sports News
Golden State girls delivered a one-two punch at this year’s Reno Rodeo Invitational Ladies Only Roping. Brooke Fry of Coalinga and Summer Tex of Madera led the charge at the June 20 event, which was held at the Reno Livestock Events Center, roping four steers in 46.03 seconds for $15,000 apiece. They were followed closely by Tammy White of Los Osos and Tammy Lewis, a California native who now lives in Queen Creek, Ariz. The twosome of Tammys roped four steers in 46.82 seconds for $7,500 per roper.
“Summer and I roped together in college, and this is our third time roping here,” said Fry, 26. “Because of all our history, I could not have won it with anyone who meant more.”
“Third time’s a charm—that’s our motto,” added Tex, 25, who makes her home in Madera.
Fry has been the women’s rodeo coach the last couple years at West Hills Community College, where she went to school before finishing up at Fresno State University. “I like coaching. It lets me teach and do the things I love at the same time,” she said. Fry took a job as an accountant for Harris Farms, the racetrack at the Harris Ranch in Coalinga, two weeks after their big RRI Ladies Only win. Tex, who also rodeoed at West Hills, is a Fresno County brand inspector.
“Summer and I have been best friends for 10 or 15 years now,” Fry said. “We were buddies in high school, and roommates in college. It means a lot to win this together. We have jobs where we can actually afford to go now, so there’s a lot less pressure than when we were in college. It’s more satisfying to win when it’s your time and effort that’s invested.”
Fry and Tex catapulted up to the catbird’s seat from the third high callback, and were one of only two teams to stop the clock on their last steer. Ten teams caught their first three steers to qualify for the four-steer average short round. The RRI Ladies Only format features a short round for every single team, even those who missed their first three steers. Fry and Tex won the short round in 11 flat. White and Lewis were second with a 13.85-second run.
“All the credit goes to my partner’s handles,” Tex laughed. “We’ve roped a lot together in high school, college and jackpots, so it all feels pretty familiar and there’s no pressure with us.”
“All the credit goes to the girl who cleaned up my mess,” Fry fired back. “If it’s too easy she can’t catch. I’ve always known how handy she is. I just wanted everybody else to see it. Summer’s a lot of fun, and she definitely picked up the slack today. My head horse didn’t work very well today, so she really had to rope up.”
Fry spun on her 8-year-old sorrel head horse Tank, which was a home project start to finish. “My boyfriend for the last eight years, PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) bullfighter and pickup man Chance Jackson, put the first 60 days on him, and I made him from there,” she said. “I head, breakaway rope, tie goats and run barrels on him. He’s not very good at any of them, but he can do everything. He scored good and ran to cattle hard, but didn’t handle cattle very good today.”
Tex bought her 10-year-old sorrel mare Macy from Steve and Kathy Branco a couple years ago. “She worked pretty good today,” Tex said. “As far as Brooke’s handles go, my friend Jaime Hinton told me I needed that so I wouldn’t take any bad shots. It was pretty wild, and Jaime said that was a good thing because I wouldn’t show off, but would just kick up and rope.”
These two don’t sweat the small stuff, and they’re in this sport for the long haul.
“This is a great roping, and we have a great time,” Fry said. “We get to be around all our friends. The caliber of women here is amazing. This is the most money I’ve ever won, so it’s pretty exciting.”
“What I do for a living and what I do for fun are pretty similar,” said Tex, who won the Oakdale All-Girl Roping held in conjunction with the tradition-rich Oakdale 10-Steer heeling for Lisa Duncan in 2008. “One way or another I’m around livestock all day. I try to rope in the mornings before work and in the evenings. And I go to jackpots as much as possible. But this roping is more than a jackpot. It’s an event.”
Their RRI Ladies Only strategy was simple and straightforward. “I told her to keep them off the fence is all,” Fry said. “I told her, ‘I’m going to rope them and then my horse is going to run off, so do whatever you can.’ I was lucky to have Summer behind me today. She’s just really handy and catches everything.”
“I just worry about my end and she worries about hers,” Tex said. “However it goes it doesn’t really matter. I thank Brooke, and I thank all my family and friends for coming and supporting me. I also thank Carlos for working the chute. Thank you so much, Carlos!”
These two have been friends so long they can answer each other’s sentences. “We have certain favorite movies we watch together,” Tex said. “Whenever Brooke starts getting nervous she’ll tell me a movie line and I’ll answer back from the movie. That calms us down.”
The Reno Rodeo Invitational Ladies Only is a mustn’t miss event for every woman who swings a rope. As Producer Perry Di Loreto put it, “The caliber of ladies ropers just keeps going up. These girls are training for this and it shows.”
It’s a four-steer test where consistency is king. “The key is to be smart and catch four,” Tex said. “Some of the cattle tried, so we really just needed to get them all caught. It was just our day. I miss, too, just not today.”
Tex wheeled all four steers by two feet. “The first steer was the wildest one,” she said. “When we got past him, I thought, ‘We’re good.’ He disappeared, and I had to haul butt across the arena. I lost my left stirrup when we turned the corner, and we ended up against the fence.
“When we got to the short round, I wanted to catch that last one whether we were going to win anything or not. I wanted to catch them all.”
“I’ve always loved roping at Reno,” Fry said. “It’s always a good time. We dedicated our win to my dad (Steve Fry), who died in January. He’d been sick for a long time, and we told each other this morning we were going to do it for him. I’d really like to thank the people who put this roping on—the producers and the sponsors. The money and prizes are amazing. This is a great roping. What an opportunity for all of us, and what an honor to get to rope against the best women ropers in the world, who come from all over the country.”
“Brooke’s mom (Shauna Fry) asked if we would rope together this year to try and win it for her dad,” Tex said. “We’re all really good friends. When Brooke and I were in college it was closer to her parents’ house in Visalia than mine in Bishop, so we spent a lot of weekends there. We’re like family.
“Winning this roping is a big deal. It’s really good to win when all the good ropers are here. I hate wasted time and money, so it makes all my time and effort that I put into it pay off. I’ve never won $15,000 at a roping before. This money’s going to be spent a lot of different ways. I try to invest in things that are going to pay off.”
When the first seven teams missed, they knew third was in the bag when they rode in the box to run their short-round steer. “We just needed to rope our steer and let it fall wherever it was supposed to,” Fry said. “It ended up in our favor today. This money couldn’t have come at a better time. I just bought a new truck and Summer just bought a new house. She told me the week before the roping, ‘We better win because I need new floors in my house.’ We were both needing the money to pay our bills.
“This is very exciting. Neither of us has won this kind of money at one time before, and this is very prestigious. It’s one of the biggest and best all-girl ropings in the country. Women come from everywhere for this one.”
2012 Reno Rodeo Invitational Ladies Only: 130 teams, entry fees $1,200 per team:
Round One: 1. Lydia Martin and Jaymee Roach, 6.73, $1,500 per team; 2. Melinda McDaniel and Brittany Leasy, 6.89, $1,250; 3. SeVette Early and Kelly Hicks, 7,45, $1,000
Round Two: 1. Kailey Freed and LoriLea Roach, 7.06, $1,500; 2. Taryn Krantz and Kayelen Helton, 7.34, $1,250; 3. Wendy Winn and Megan Sherwood, 7.73, $1,000
Round Three: 1. Lori Thone and Aletha Barkley, 6.80, $1,500; 2. Tracy Saunders and Lori Ireland, 7.12, $1,250; 3. Lari Dee Guy and Annette Hinkle, 7.42, $1,000
Short Round: 1. Brooke Fry and Summer Tex, 11.00, $1,500; 2. Tammy White and Tammy Lewis, 13.85, $1,250
1-Steer Average:
1. Jessica Vigil and Riley Drury, 12.86, $750; 2. Adele Brown and Erin Jasper, 12.86, $750
2-Steer Average:
1. Kelsi Maynard and Teresa Herman, 17.96, $2,250; 2. Destri Devenport and Macy Devenport, 19.52, $2,000; 3. Tibba Smith and Cassie Vierstra, 19.95, $1,750
3-Steer Average:
1. AnnDee White and Aubrey Smith, 27.90, $3,500; 2. Taryn Krantz and Kayelen Helton, 28.49, $3,250; 3. Sherri Burns and Gina Necochea, 28.64, $3,000; 4. Melinda McDaniel and Brittany Leasy, 31.17, $2,750; 5. Jody York and Heidi Cuny, 31.93, $2,500
4-Steer Average:
1. Brooke Fry and Summer Tex, 46.03, $30,000 per team; 2. Tammy White and Tammy Lewis, 46.82, $15,000; 3. SeVette Early and Kelly Hicks, 31.33 on 3, $6,000; 4. Melanie White and Marcey Chaves, 40.06, $5,000; 5. Gina Welch and Joy Fortier, 41.55, $4,750; 6. Jordan Jo Fabrizio and Debbie Fabrizio, 42.96, $4,500; 7. Vicky Benedetti and Suzanne Williams, 43.63, $4,250; 8. Katie Leibold and Mandy Sproul, 44,00, $4,000; 9. Leslie Todd and Dana Bakley, 50.01, $3,000; 10. Lori Thone and Aletha Barkley, 51.84, $2,500
Broc Cresta, who grew up in Santa Rosa and went on to become one of the nation's best steer ropers, was found dead this [Sat., July 28, 2012) in a trailer at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo in Wyoming. He was 25.
Cause of death is undetermined.
Cresta's roping partner and long-time friend, Spencer Mitchell, said the two had competed Friday in the Cheyenne event, then shared a beer at Cresta's trailer afterward. Cresta had then left to watch a concert with his girlfriend.
When Mitchell called on Cresta this morning, he and the girlfriend were asleep. She soon emerged from the trailer and chatted with Mitchell. About 11 a.m. (MST), she went in to wake Cresta.
"She started screaming," Mitchell said from Cheyenne. "And that's when I ran to get help."
Cresta, apparently in good health just hours earlier, was pronounced dead.
"The whole rodeo world is in shock," said Kendra Santos, director of communications for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.
"My phone's been ringing off the wall all day with calls from Hall of Famers on down to little kids. Broc's a fourth-generation cowboy in California, and everybody loves him. It's hard enough to lose a good cowboy when he's 90, but losing such a talented and genuinely good person at 25 is just about impossible."
Cresta and Mitchell competed in an event known as team roping — Cresta as the heeler and Mitchell as the header. They had been close friends since childhood.
"Most of those who know us don't bother calling us friends," Mitchell said. "We might as well be brothers."
Cresta, a Petaluma resident, grew up riding ponies and roping on his family's ranch, seven miles out of Santa Rosa.