Devers Moves Atop Leaderboard at San Angelo Rodeo

SAN ANGELO, TX – Raising young ones isn’t for the faint of heart, but the love that comes through it shows.

Cody Devers doesn’t have children, but he’s been training horses all his life. The same combination of love and aggravation comes with it. He’s experienced a little bit of that with his steer wrestling horse, JoJo, a 9-year-old gray mare he’s been riding for more than a year.

“My mare just had surgery at the end of last year, and she was out to the very beginning of this year,” said Devers, 30, a two-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier from Perryton, Texas. “It just took a little while. She’s never really been to any of these buildings and never had all the outside noise coming in. She’s still green, and we weren’t quite clicking.”

JoJo is green like a banana. It still looks similar, but it’s not yet ripe enough to enjoy. That may be changing. She’s been put through the ringer at the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo and has pushed her way to the top. Devers competed for the third time during Wednesday’s ninth performance, stopping the clock in 5.0 seconds.

That – combined with his 4.1-second run to finish in a tie for third place in the opening round and a 4.3-second run to finish just out of the money – pushed Devers to the top spot with a three-run cumulative time of 13.4 seconds. He has locked his place for Championship Friday, when the winners will be crowned inside CRC Roofers Coliseum.

“I knew I had a good steer tonight, and I knew I just needed to stay out of my own way and not mess him up,” said Devers, who has earned $3,231 already in Tom Green County. “I just needed to lay that steer over and make it back to the short round in a good spot.”

That was easier said than done. Devers made sure to give the steer the appropriate head start, which added to the mystery. The steer stepped left a little, which tightened the gap where the bulldoggers dismounts his horse.

“My mare runs pretty tight anyway, and that makes catching him a little bit trickier,” he said. “That steer actually tried more than I was really game-planning, and my hazer (Garrett Curry) did a great job leaving him pretty straight. He’s also a very light steer, so I was just trying to lift the entire time.”

Devers owns the aggregate lead by almost two seconds over the field and will await the results of Thursday’s 10th round to see where he stands heading into Friday’s short round. He likes his chances with the gray mare guiding the way.

“Her first rodeo was Tucson, Arizona, last year,” Devers said of the February event, which is outdoors in the Arizona desert. “She made the short round there, but I didn’t ride her anywhere else until the (Prairie) Circuit rodeos in the spring. She worked really good. I have a lot more confidence in the outdoors, but now that we’ve been to these indoor rodeos, she’s matured and is kind of figuring out.

“I’m really proud of her.”

Devers and his family acquired the horse from roper JoJo LeMond, who made the NFR and the National Finals Steer Roping. The mare was just 3 years old and had already been tried in team roping and cutting. Devers’ mother, Sabrina, tried to work the gray into becoming a barrel-racing mount, but that didn’t work too well.

“She loves to run,” he said. “She was great on barrels, but she’d get to running so fast that she can’t physically turn. So, we decided that, ‘You know what, if you want to run like that, we’ll put you in bulldogging.’

“I got to start bulldogging on her, and she decided she didn’t like barrels as much.”

It certainly has shown in San Angelo.

San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo

Bareback riding leaders: 1. Leighton Berry, 92 points on Korkow Rodeo’s Tator Tot; 2. Cole Reiner, 88.5; 3. Luke Thrash, 88; 4. Wacey Schalla, 87.5; 5. Wyatt Warneke, 87; 6. (tie) Jayco Roper, Cooper Cooke and Clayton Biglow, 86; 9. Kade Berry, 85.5; 10. (tie) Taylor Broussard, Cole Hollen and Devon Moore, 84.5; 10. (tie) Colton Clemens, Lane McGehee, Cooper Filipek and Ben Kramer, 84.

Steer wrestling: Third round leaders: 1. J.D. Struxness, 4.3 seconds; 2. Tory Johnson, 4.4; 3. (tie) Dalton Massey, Logan Mullin, Laramie Warren and Jacob Daniell, 4.6; 7. (tie) Tyler Waguespack, Evan Spady, Cimarron Thompson and Tristan Martin, 4.7. Average leaders: 1. Cody Devers, 13.4 seconds on three runs; 2. (tie) Cimarron Thompson and Chase Crane, 15.3; 4. Tyler Waguespack, 13.4; 5. Colt Honey, 15.6; 6. Grant Peterson, 15.7; 7. (tie) Tony Aska and Coy Johnson, 16.4; 9. Trace Harris, 16.5; 10. J.D. Struxness, 17.0; 11. Ty Allred, 17.5; 12. Tad Williams, 17.7.

Tie-down roping: Third round leaders: 1. Cory Solomon, 8.5 seconds; 2. (tie) Brodey Clemons and Cash Enderli, 8.7; 4. Richard Newton, 9.0; 5. (tie) Trevor Hale, Tom Crouse and Quade Hiatt, 9.1; 8. (tie) Beau Cooper and Sam Lewis, 9.2.Average leaders: 1. Beau Cooper, 26.2 seconds on three runs; 2. Joel Harris, 27.3; 3. Sam Lewis, 27.5; 4. Brodie Mattson, 27.7; 5. Cole Clemons, 28.2; 6. Dylan Hancock, 28.6; 7. (tie) Cash Enderli and Colton Suther, 28.8; 9. Brodey Clemons, 28.9; 10. Sterling Smith, 29.1; 11. Cory Solomon, 29.3; 12. Shane Hanchey, 29.6.

Saddle bronc riding leaders: 1. Zeke Thurston, 87.5 points on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Uptuck; 2. (tie) Mitchie Story and Damian Brfennan, 87 points; 4. Lefty Holman, 86; 5. (tie) Kolby Wanchuk and Joe Macqueen, 85.5; 7. Kade Bruno, 85; 8. Ryder Sanford, 84; 9. (tie) Darcy Radel, Wyatt Casper, Kole Ashbacher and Rusty Wright, 83.5.

Breakaway roping: Second round leaders: 1. Megan Powell, 2.0 seconds; 2. (tie) Sawyer Gilbert, Kirby Rawlinson, Hailey Hall, Tibba Smith, Millie Greenwood and Bradi Good, 2.1; 8. Kinlie Brennise, 2.2; 9. (tie) Amy Ohrt and Jenna Caldarola, 2.3; 11. (tie) Cheyanne McCartney and Delani Beatty, 2.6; 13. Zoie Bedke, 2.7; 14. (tie) Macy Davenport and Karrigan Graves, 2.9. Average leaders: 1. Delani Beatty, 4.6 seconds on two runs; 2. Cheyanne McCartney, 4.8; 3. Amy Ohrt, 5.0; 4. Tibba Smith, 5.1; 5. Jenna Caldarola, 5.2; 6. Kirby Rawlinson, 5.3; 7. Haiden Thompson, 5.4; 8. (tie) Rylee George and Jackie Crawford, 5.7; 10. (tie) Sawyer Gilbert and Kinlie Brennise, 5.8; 12. (tie) Macy Davenport, Karrigan Graves and Kacie Wiersma, 6.0.

Team roping: Third round leaders: 1. Andrew Ward/Jake Long, 3.5 seconds; 2. (tie) Dustin Egusquiza/J.C. Flake and Tanner Tomlinson/Coleby Payne, 3.7; 4. Chad Masters/Jace Helton, 3.8; 5. (tie) Logan Olson/York Gill and Kavis Drake/Denim Ross, 4.1; 7. J.C. Yeahquo/Logan Moore, 4.2; 8. Brenten Hall/Kaden Profili, 4.3. Average leaders: 1. Ketch Kelton/Paden Bray, 14.9 seconds on three runs; 2. (tie) Brenten Hall/Kaden Profili and Jake Smith/Douglas Rich, 15.1; 4. Jayse Tettenhorst/Belden Cox, 15.2; 5. Cory Kidd/Carson Johnson, 15.7; 6. Shay Carroll/Denton Dunning, 16.3; 7. Brent Mibb/Blayne Home, 17.3; 8. Kavis Drake/Denim Ross, 18.9; 9. (tie) Cash Duty/Jake Edwards and Riley Kittle/Cole Curry, 20.8; 11. Seth Hall/Nicky Northcott, 24.7; 12. Garrett Tonozzi/Dutin Davis, 25.6.

Barrel racing: Second round leaders: 1. Morgan Addison, 14.17 seconds; 2. Sarah Roberts, 14.18; 3. (tie) London Gorham and Brooklyn Balch, 14.20; 5. Shelley Morgan, 14.24; 6. Catherine Asmussen, 14.29; 7. Kristi Cole, 14.31; 8. Ashley Harvey, 14.36; 9. (tie) Liz Pinkston and Bristan McCarley, 14.40. Average leaders: 1. London Gorham, 30.05 seconds on two runs; 2. Morgan Addison, 30.22; 3. Shelley Morgan, 30.37; 4. Lisa Lockhart, 30.38; 5. Brooklyn Balch, 30.39; 6. Devon Brown, 30.43; 7. (tie) Stephanie Fryer, Lindsay Sears and Keyla Costa, 30.52; 10. (tie) Londyn Ross and Tayla Moeykens, 30.53; 12. (tie) Julie Plourde and Jordynn Knight, 30.54.

Bull riding leaders: 1. John Crimber, 90 points on New West Rodeo Productions’ Payday; 2. Noah Lee, 88.5; 3. Tristen Hutchings, 87; 4. Josiah Chism, 86.5; 5. (tie) Wacey Schalla and Earnie Courson, 86; 7. Koby Jacobson, 85; 8. Braxton Whitesell, 84.5; 9. (tie) Dakota Hill and Mason Moody, 84; 11. (tie) Clayton Sellars and Hayden Ferguson, 83.5.