Top bullfighters will be featured in Sikeston, Mo., and Hermiston, Ore.
Beau Schueth needs no extra motivation when it comes to fighting bulls, but he’ll take it.
This week, he returns to the Sikeston (Mo.) Jaycees Bootheel Rodeo to defend his Bullfighters Only title, and he knows he’ll get all the help he needs from the knowledgeable fans.
“It’s just an awesome atmosphere, and the crowd really gets into it,” said Schueth, the No. 4 man in the BFO Pendleton Whisky World Standings from O’Neill, Neb. “When the crowd’s into it, that makes me want to do something crazier and fight harder for them.
“They love the bullfights. They pack that place every night and definitely gets your motor running when that many people are cheering you on.”
BFO-Sikeston takes place Thursday and Friday right after the rodeo performance. BFO-Hermiston at the Farm-City ProRodeo in northern Oregon, takes place Wednesday and Thursday.
In both events, the bullfighters will compete both nights, and the man with the best two-fight cumulative score will be crowned champion at each location.
“The reason we do the bullfights is that it’s an event you don’t see everywhere,” said Jeremiah Quick, now in his third year as a director of Bootheel Rodeo. “It’s old school man vs. beast, and you’ve got the rankest bulls in this part of the country and the top bullfighters in the world with BFO.
“For us, the fans love it, and Bullfighters Only puts on the best bullfights you can get right now.”
Of the five men competing in Sikeston, four are ranked among the top five in the standings. That includes the No. 1 man, Weston Rutkowski, the reigning BFO world champion from Haskell, Texas.
“This is my third time to Sikeston, and I haven’t won it yet,” he said. “I was second my first time, and last year I was third. This is another one of those rodeos that I really want to win. I come to every bullfight with the mindset to win it. Hopefully I can put all the pieces together and cross this one off the list.”
He’ll have to defeat a very talented group of bullfighters to earn that coveted BFO-Sikeston title; in addition to Schueth, the event will also feature No. 3 Toby Inman, No. 5 Schell Apple and Tanner Zarnetski, the 12th-ranked man in the standings.
“It means a lot that I won it last year and that I’m coming back to defend my title,” Schueth said. “It’s an awesome rodeo and a great bullfight.”
This will be the first year for Bullfighters Only to be in Hermiston, but the excitement level is just the same. The three men in the field – Kris Furr, Justin Josey and Dayton Spiel – have a ton of talent and will be showcasing it in front of a big crowd in a new stadium.
Josey has returned to the game after taking some time away, and Spiel has burst onto the bullfighting scene this year. Furr is coming off his first victory this past weekend in Sidney, Iowa.
SIKESTON CONTESTANTS
Weston Rutkowski
Schell Apple
Beau Schueth
Toby Inman
Tanner Zarnetski
HERMISTON CONTESTANTS
Justin Josey
Kris Furr
Dayton Spiel