Rogers, Summers draw ‘honest steer,’ rope second at 4th of July rodeo

WINDOW ROCK

The logistics of taking part in the Annual Fourth of July Celebration & PRCA Rodeo cost Erich Rogers some money.

In addition to paying his own fees, Rogers and his new roping partner Clint Summers had to pony up an additional $512 to compete in the final performance of the annual event at the Dean C. Jackson Memorial Arena on Saturday night.

They were originally set up to compete last Wednesday but they convinced two other teams to change their schedule so that they could perform on the final night.

“We had to trade out with two teams and we had to pay their fees,” Rogers said. “We told the guys that this was our hometown rodeo and we wanted to rope tonight.”

With how hectic the Cowboy Christmas run can become, Rogers said they were lucky to get their draw on Saturday night, as they did not disappoint the Diné faithful that were in attendance.

The pair roped their steer in 4.5 seconds, placing them second overall behind event winners Lane Ivy and Blaine Vick, while Derrick Begay and Ty Romo took third place honors with a 5.1 run.

“The steer that we had was pretty good,” Rogers said. “Garrett Rogers and Russell Cardoza were a six on him and Russell said he was a good steer.”

Rogers said that steer did foul up on the aforementioned pair but he felt that it was “an honest steer.”

“The start was pretty quick and it was good that we got a quick start,” he said. “I stepped right over into my office and I kind of ran my rope a little bit but Clint did a good job tonight because the steer was wishy-washy at the back end. He did an outstanding job of finishing our Fourth of July right up there.”

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