ALVA, Okla. – The mind of a competitor is a curious thing. What helps someone get out of a slump? What is it that brings back the winning formula?
For Northwestern Oklahoma State University freshman Hazen Sparks, he knew something had to change.
“I just don’t like losing,” said Sparks of Talihina, Oklahoma. “That seems to be all I’ve been doing lately, so I just got a fire lit under me, and I’ve been working hard at it and practicing hard. I’ve been confident and motivated, and it’s carried over to these last two weekends.”
What began a week before in Weatherford, Oklahoma – where Sparks won the first round of tie-down roping but was saddled with a no-time in the championship – made for the perfect transition to this past weekend, when Sparks earned points in two events to win the all-around title at the Fort Hays (Kansas) State University rodeo.
“I should have won Weatherford all-day, but I just got a little too excited in the short round,” said Sparks, who made the final round in both tie-down roping and steer wrestling, found success during the final performance and parlayed that into top finishes in Hays. “I drew pretty good this weekend and just wanted to make the best runs I could on what I had.”
Having solid animals on which to compete is important for any contestant, and it’s part of the equation to find success. Hazen had a bit of help in his own tie-down roping horse, Easter, and his bulldogging mount, Easy, which is owned by fellow Ranger Logan Mullin.
“I started that gray horse when she was coming on 4, and I trained her from there,” Sparks said of Easter, which has been named the Central Plains Region’s tie-down roping horse of the year. “I didn’t really take her a whole lot until last January, and I cracked her out at some jackpots. I was pretty confident in her, and we went quite a bit last year. She’s just as solid and honest as they come.
“She just turned 8 (Sunday), and she got her name because she was born on Easter Sunday.”
Maybe it was kismet with the holiday, but Northwestern coach Cali Griffin said much more went into Sparks’ success.
“I’m excited for Hazen to win his first all-round title at the college rodeos,” Griffin said. “He’s just a freshman, and I know we’ll see a lot of him winning all-arounds in his time here. We had a really good chat last week about how now it was his time to step up as a leader and help create a culture that helps mold what the future of this program could look like.
“He’s been talking to me about how to finish stronger in the short round, and I think he did just that.”
Sparks led the way for the Rangers, collecting 180 cumulative points. He finished second in the final round and aggregate in tie-down roping, and was third in the short round and overall in steer wrestling. He was joined on the winner’s platform by teammate Emmett Edler of State Center, Iowa, who not only won the bulldogging title in Hays but also secured his second straight qualification to the College National Finals Rodeo.
Edler was 5.4 to finish as the runner-up in the long round, then stopped the clock in 6.3 seconds to win the short round and the average title. That was worth 170 points and gave the Iowa cowboy an advantage that can’t be surpassed at the final Central Plains Region rodeo of the year later this week in Guymon, Oklahoma.
Edler and Sparks were accompanied in the final round by steer wrestler Grady Aasby of Highmore, South Dakota, and tie-down ropers Kaden Harland of Buffalo, Oklahoma, and Colter Snook of Dodge City, Kansas. Harland finished third and Snook fourth in the short round.
For the women, freshman goat-tier Payton Dingman of Pryor, Oklahoma, placed in both rounds and finished tied for third overall, also securing at least a third-place finish in the regional standings to secure her bid for the college finals. She was joined in the championship round by Morgan Poust of Hughesville, Pennsylvania, who finished the first round in a four-way tie for sixth place.
Breakaway roper Trista Renger of Apple Valley, California, was 2.8 in the short round for a tie for second place, and her two-run cumulative time of 6.0 seconds was good enough for third overall. Brylee Zook of Garnett, Kansas, was 2.3 seconds to win the opening round.
Sparks has considered his rookie season in college rodeo to be a great learning experience. He decided on attending Northwestern because of its long legacy on excellent steer wrestling. Former coach Stockton Graves built a program during his tenure that featured two bulldogging national champions in J.D. Struxness (2016) and Bridger Anderson (2019), and the college became known as the Steer Wrestling Capital of College Rodeo.
“I like bulldogging more, but I don’t take anything from tie-down,” Sparks said. “I still take that as serious as anything, and I just like being a two-event cowboy. I feel like I’m decently talented at both, but my preference is just bulldogging. That’s what my family’s always done.
“Cali loves it, and she still wants us to stay a bulldogging school. She’s always asking what she can do to help the bulldoggers out, and I think she’s doing a great job. I met her before she came here, and I knew she’d be the right fit and that we’d get along together good.”
The Northwestern rodeo program has a strong history, and the steps Griffin is taking with athletes like Sparks will help ensure what things will look like for years to come.
“I just think this is the most cowboy place there is in the region,” Sparks said. “I feel like if you’re going to ProRodeo, Alva is the place you want to be.”