DODGE CITY, Kan. – Tyler Ravenscroft is just getting his start in ProRodeo, but he didn’t show any nervousness when it came to making steer wrestling runs at the Dodge City Roundup Rodeo.

On Friday morning, he wrestled his way to a share of the lead with a 3.8-second run, then followed it during the third performance of Kansas’ largest rodeo with a 4.4-second run to take the overall lead in bulldogging with one day remaining in the preliminary go-rounds.

“This is pretty important if I want a chance to make the Prairie Circuit Finals, which was one of my goals going into this year,” said Ravenscroft, who will be a junior at Southeastern Oklahoma State University when classes commence in a few weeks. “This is one of the bigger rodeos we have, so I wanted to make sure I did well here and try to give myself a chance to make the circuit finals.”

The Prairie Circuit is made up of PRCA rodeos and contestants primarily in Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska, and Roundup Rodeo is the largest event in the region. While a number of top-name contestants are in Dodge City with hopes the money earned will guide them to the National Finals Rodeo, many are like Ravenscroft with hopes of advancing to the regional finale.

Riding Spongebob, an 11-year-old palomino owned by Mason Couch, Ravenscroft found his way to some good money already. He will have to wait through Saturday’s final performance of preliminary go-rounds to find out if he earned a share of the first-round title, but he knows he will return to Roundup Arena for Sunday’s championship round, which features the top 12 contestants based on times and scores through the week of competition.

“It’s pretty surreal when I got to look up there and see my name at the top of the leaderboard,” he said. “It’s just been w hat I’ve been working for the last couple of years. To finally put myself in a spot to where I can finally win a big rodeo is awesome.”

He is the nephew of fellow bulldogger Sean Mulligan, another Nebraska cowboy who now lives in Coleman, Oklahoma. Mulligan qualified for the National Finals Rodeo four times and has served as hazer for hundreds of runs over his career. He has been a big inspiration to Ravenscroft.

“He’s helped me so much, just even the last two years in college,” Ravenscroft said, noting that his uncle lives less than 25 miles from his college in Durant, Oklahoma. “My horsemanship’s gotten way better. I’ve been able to help him start horses and just tune up my steer wrestling. I can’t thank him enough for what he’s done for my steer wrestling.”

It shows, but some of that’s just being a cowboy. Ravenscroft claims Nenzel, Nebraska, as home, but he was actually raised on a ranch in the state’s Sandhills region.

“We live about an hour from where I went to high school,” he said. “I went to school at a one-room school house on our place for a few years. Valentine (Nebraska, near the South Dakota border) is the actual closest town, and we’re 67 miles from it.”

He’s used to traveling, so it won’t bother him one bit to make a return trip to Dodge City on Sunday night to battle for one of the most coveted titles in ProRodeo.

Dodge City Roundup Rodeo
Dodge City, Kan.
Aug. 4-8
Bareback riding leaders: 1. Leighton Berry, 89 points on Frontier Rodeo’s Short Night; 2. Richmond Champion, 88.5; 3. (tie) Mason Clements and Tilden, 88; 5. Chad Rutherford, 87; 6. Caleb Bennett, 86.5; 7. (tie) Nate McFadden and Trenten Montero, 84.5; 9. Taylor Broussard, 83.5; 10. Garrett Shadbolt, 83.

Steer wrestling: First round leaders: 1. (tie) Stetson Jorgensen and Tyler Ravenscroft, 3.8 seconds; 3. Payden McIntyre, 3.9; 4. Ty Erickson, 4.1; 5. (tie) Don Payne, Cade Staton, Grayson Allred and Gus Franzen, 4.4; 9. (tie) Aaron Vosler and Jason Thomas, 4.3; 8. (tie) Justin Shaffer, Tucker Allen, Dalton Massey and Bridger Anderson, 4.4. Second round leaders: 1. (tie) Blake Knowles and Dirk Tavenner, 3.4 seconds; 3. (tie) Tyler Pearson and Stockton Graves, 3.6; 5. Tyler Waguespack, 3.7; 6. (tie) Tucker Allen, Clayton Hass and Brandon Harrison, 3.9; 9. Don Payne, 4.1; 10. Mike McGinn and Mason Owen Couch, 4.2. Average leaders: 1. Tyler Ravenscroft, 8.2 seconds on two runs; 2. (tie) Tucker Allen, Stetson Jorgensen and Don Payne, 8.3; 5. Jason Thomas, 8.6; 6. Clayton Hass, 8.8; 7. (tie) Chance Howard and Tucker Alberts; 9. Blake Knowles, 9.1; 10. Wyatt Jurney, 9.2.

Team roping: First round leaders: 1. Tanner Green/Clay Futrell, 4.4 seconds; 2. Clay Smith/Jade Corkill, 5.1; 3. Cooper Bruce/Reed Lewis Boos, 5.3; 4. Coleman Proctor/Logan Medlin, 5.4; 5. Dalton Turner/Garrett Smith, 4.7; 6. Tanner Tomlinson/Patrick Smith, 5.8; 7. Tyler Wade/Trey Yates, 5.9; 8. (tie) Erich Rogers/Paden Bray and Brenten Hall/Chase Tryan, 6.0; 10. Cory Kidd/Ryan Motes, 6.1. Second round leaders: 1. Kaleb Driggers/Junior Nogueira, 3.9 seconds; 2. (tie) Aaron Macy/Jason Johe and Andrew Ward/Buddy Hawkins, 4.5; 4. (tie) Levi Simpson/Tyler Worley and Tanner Tomlilnson/Patrick Smith, 4.6; 6. (tie) Luke Brown/Hunter Koch and Caleb Smidt/B.J. Dugger, 4.7; 8. Tyler Wade/Trey Yates, 4.9; 9. (tie) Clay Smith/Jade Corkill, Marcus Theriot/Jim Ross Cooper and Mason Boettcher/Colton Brittain, 5.2; 8. Dalton Turner/Garrett Smith, 5.6; 9. Miles Baker/Zack Woods, 6.4; 10. Tanner Green/Clay Futrell, 8.4. Average leaders: 1. Clay Smith/Jade Corkill, 10.3 seconds on two runs; 2. Tanner Tomlinson/Patrick Smith, 10.4; 3. Tyler Wade/Trey Yates, 10.8; 4. Dalton Turner/Garret Smith, 11.3; 5. Marcus Theriot/Jim Ross Cooper, 11.4; 6. Tanner Green/Clay Futrell, 12.8; 7. Miles Baker/Zack Woods, 13.0; 8. Kaleb Driggers/Junior Nogueira, 14.9; 9. Aaron Macy/Jason Johe, 17.1; 10. Cory Kidd/Ryan Motes, 17.5.

Saddle bronc riding leaders: 1. Lefty Holman, 86 points on Frontier Rodeo’s Tip Off; 2. (tie) K’s Thomson, Mitch Pollock and Jake Finlay, on Frontier Rodeo’s Push Pop, 84 points; 5. (tie) Kole Ashbacher, Brody Cress and Lane Schuelke, 83; 8. (tie) Ben Andersen and Rusty Wright, 81.5; 10. (tie) Wyatt Hageman and Taos Muncy, 81.

Tie-down roping: First round leaders: 1. Trenton Smith, 8.8 seconds; 2. Paden Bray, 8.9; 3. Riley Pruitt, 9.2; 4. Tyler Prcin, 9.3; 5. Kincade Henry, 9.4; 6. Lane Livingston, 9.9; 7. (tie) Taylor Santos, John Douch, Marcos Costa and Marty Yates, 10.3; 8. Ty Kirby, 10.4; 9. (tie) Trent McDonald and Corey Renn Larsen, 10.6. Second round leaders: 1. (tie) Blane Cox and Sherman Lasker, 8.1; 3. Shane Hanchey, 8.3; 4. Zack Jongbloed, 8.4; 5. (tie) Tyler Prcin and Rhen Richard, 8.8; 7. Beau Cooper, 9.0; 8. (tie) Wyatt Muggli, Chance Thiessen and LD Meier, 9.1. Average leaders: 1. Tyler Prcin, 18.1 seconds on two runs; 2. Riley Pruitt, 18.1; 3. Paden Bray, 19.2; 4. Zack Jongbloed, 19.6; 5. (tie) Beau Cooper and Chance Thiessen, 19.8; 7. Taylor Santos, 20.3; 8. Trenton Smith, 20.4; 9. Lane Livingston, 20.5; 10. Quade Hiatt, 21.5.

Barrel racing: First round leaders: 1. Stevi Hillman, 16.92; 2. Jordon Briggs, 17.04; 3. BryAnna Haluptzok, 17.26; 4. Shelley Morgan, 17.32; 5. Cheyenne Wimberley, 17.38; 6. (tie) Jill Wilson and Jackie Ganter, 17.41; 8. Jessica Routier, 17.42; 9. Jessi Fish, 17.44; 10. Sidney Forrest, 17.45; 11. (tie) Nellie Miller and Joni McKim, 17.49. Second round leaders: 1. Stevi Hillman, 17.08 seconds; 2. Jordon Briggs, 17.17; 3. Jessica Routier, 17.19; 4. (tie) Michelle Darling and Kylee Scribner, 17.25; 6. Shelley Morgan, 17.30; 7. Katie Pascoe, 17.32; 8. Ericka Nelson, 17.35; 9. (tie) Nicole Driggers and Jamie Chaffin, 17.38. Average leaders: 1. Stevi Hillman, 34.00 seconds on two runs; 2. Jordon Briggs, 34.21; 3. Jessica Routier, 34.61; 4. Shelley Morgan, 34.62; 5. Cheyenne Wimberley, 34.78; 6. BryAnna Halputzok, 34.85; 7. Katie Pascoe, 34.89; 8. Nellie Miller, 34.91; 9. Keyla Polizello Costa, 34.95; 10. Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi, 35.00.

Bull riding leaders: 1. Dustin Boquet, 86 points on Frontier Rodeo’s Lookin’ Up; 2. Eli Vastbinder, 84.5; 3. (tie) Bubba Greig and Ky Hamilton, 82; 5. Fulton Rutland, 78; 6. Braden Richardson, 77.5; no other qualified rides.