Two mounted cowboys wait intently as a 600-pound steer bolts into the arena. The rope tied around its neck releases the gate, and the cowboys are off. One known as the "hazer"
herds the bull while the other cowboy rides up next to the charging bovine. This cowboy is the steer wrestler, or bulldogger. He wrestles the animal to the ground, sometimes falling from his saddle onto the steer.
Weber State University junior Cody Wade is one of those steer wrestlers in the team steer wrestling event, competing for the WSU Rodeo Club.
At the Ogden Pioneer Day Rodeo on July 24, Wade took first in the event, taking down a steer in 4.3 seconds.
In the championship rounds of the event, bulldoggers face the steers four times. Wade did so in 16.24 seconds, an average of 4.05 seconds for each steer. He earned that time while competing for the WSU Rodeo Club at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo., this past June. With that time he earned the position of steer-wrestling national champion.
The WSU Rodeo Club pulls in students from multiple states. During the summer, the number of members on campus dwindles to six or seven,
Another of the out-of-state WSU rodeo club members is also nationally ranked. Mackenzie Pratt from Washington is fourth in goat roping. Pratt will resume competing with the WSU Rodeo Club when fall semester begins.
WSU Rodeo Club members face the risks of competing and Wade chose to specialize in a dangerous event. According to a study printed in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, Steer Wrestling had the highest injury frequency and intensity outside of the three major stock events. However, Wade appears unaffected. He said he's competed in rodeos for nearly nine years. His father got the family started in rodeo. Wade and his brother and sister competed in rodeos together through their teen years.
"When we were in high school,"
Wade said, "we didn't play sports, we did rodeos."
Now that he's 24 years old and married, rodeo continues to be a family affair for Wade. He said his wife Sharlie is more than supportive. Both are members of the WSU Rodeo Club and participate in rodeos together.
The couple, along with other WSU Rodeo Club members, competed in the Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo last weekend.
"We've done pretty well,"
Sharlie Wade said.
Sharlie Wade took second place in the barrel racing. Cody Wade took first in a separate rodeo Saturday and took second place for team roping in the Pioneer Days rodeo.
"These guys are pretty busy,"
said WSU Rodeo Club Coach Dennis Montgomery. "This summer they'll have a rodeo about every weekend."
Team members may compete in multiple rodeos each weekend because they are vying for positions for finals in the fall. Wade will take all the experience he can get if he wants to be one of the top-12 prize winners invited to the final area competition in Ogden. He said he competed in two to seven rodeos each weekend.
"I've done about 30 rodeos,"
Wade said. "You have to make about $5,000 to $6,000 in winnings if you want to make it to the finals in October."