Saddle bronc rider sets second go-round record
Cort Scheer knew a few things about Hi Lo Prorodeo’s Larry Culpepper before Friday night: Scheer would have to stay under the rein and that fellow rodeo pro Bradley Harter could have scored a 90 on the horse in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
That, simply, Scheer received a darn good draw.
Scheer won his second straight goround in saddle bronc riding at the National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center, scoring a 92.0.
It’s a Round 2 record, breaking the mark of 90 by Dan Mortensen in 2003.
“You want to win every round and keep building off it, and then take that momentum and just have fun,” Scheer said. “It was all horse again. The chips are falling for me.”
Scheer, from Elsmere, Nebraska, is third in the world standings with $164,304.20.
He’s first in aggregate, having already earned $62,461.54 at the NFR.
The other go-round winners were: Tilden Hooper, Carthage, Texas, in bareback riding (87.5 points); Tyler Pearson, Louisville, Mississippi, in steer wrestling (3.8 seconds); Kaleb Driggers, Hoboken, Georgia, and Junior Nogueira, Presidente Prudente, Brazil, in team roping (4.0 seconds); Marty Yates, Stephenville, Texas, in tie-down roping (7.6 seconds); Lisa Lockhart, Oelrichs, South Dakota, in barrel racing (13.65 seconds); and Joe Frost, Randlett, Utah, in bull riding (90.0 points). Ed Graney
His family is here: Michelle, son Kade, a baseball player at Nicholls State, younger daughters Kenley and Kylie, along with many others who lived the dark and stormy journey alongside him, overcoming one failure at a time.
Sonnier has yet to cash after two go-rounds.
“You know, I made a lot of promises to God along the way, that if he could just get me out of something, whether I was in handcuffs or sitting on the side of a road having run out of gas, that I would change and give up drugs,” he said. “I never held up my end. But now I’ve made a promise that I won’t break, and that is any time I have a chance to tell this story, I will.
“A lot of people have asked me if I’m nervous being in (the NFR). I’m not. I feel blessed to be here. I’m going to leave the arena each night with my head held high. However this shakes out, that’s how it was planned all along.”
He made another drive this week, coming around the Grand Canyon and eventually winding his way into the north side of Las Vegas, where in the distance he could see the lights of a lifelong dream realized, and through it all those demons came rushing back again.
“I teared up pretty good,” the cowboy from Louisiana said. “It was an amazing feeling.”
One so good that he would never return to his drug of choice?
“Not today,” he said. “Not today.”
Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @ edgraney on Twitter.