Ketch Kelton and Denton Dunning won $29,248 each across Cowboy Christmas, finishing as the No. 2 high-money team roping earners of the Fourth of July run and moving the Arizona team into the PRCA world standings’ top 15.
The big week also moves Kelton into the lead of the Resistol Rookie standings by just under $24,000.
The biggest hit came at Cody, Wyoming, where they were 4.2 seconds to finish second for $7,106 a man. They were also second at Oakley, Utah, with a 4.6-second run for $6,272 each and second at the Basin City, Washington, with a 4.3 for another $4,017 a man.
The smaller checks added up, too. At Red Lodge, Montana, they were 5.0 to tie for 10th and $938 each and were 4.5 at Killdeer, North Dakota, to split second for $3,027 each.
“It was good to get in a rhythm and get a bunch of them caught in a row,” Surprise’s Dunning said. “Hopefully we will keep catching them.”
The pair of 20-year-olds also won Round 2 at the Greeley Stampede with a 4.1-second run for $4,442 each. Kelton admitted he was nervous on the first steer and didn’t catch him. By the second one, he quit worrying about it.
“The second one I was like, ‘Well, the heck with it,’” Mayer’s Kelton said. “Just try to have fun because I didn’t draw a very good steer. So, then I just went and had fun and we did good.”
At Cody, they had a good steer Kelton knew he could win on. At Basin City, they had a steer they had already watched at St. Paul and knew he could run.
“When I hit the barrier, he was just right in front of me,” Kelton said. “That made him look way better than he was.”
For Dunning, the runs that stood out most were Basin City and Cody.
“At Basin, our steer was really strong at St. Paul when they ran him over there in the first set, and we made a really good run on that one,” Dunning said. “At Cody, we just made a good run on a good steer.”
The long nights, the airport naps, the entering, the miles—all a part of the week everybody warns young guys about before they ever get out there—ended up all being worth it to Kelton.
“I heard so many stories about Fourth of July being hell week,” he said. “We had some long nights—slept at the airport once—but my expectations were way above that. It didn’t seem that bad, but the winning part helped a lot.”
Dunning said they drew good, but they also made sure not to waste the ones that weren’t supposed to be as easy.
“I don’t know there was really a secret,” Dunning said. “Just trying to make good runs when we didn’t draw the best and capitalize when we did have the good ones.”
These two grew up roping together, and the thousands of steers they’ve run together before the ProRodeo road made the Fourth of July run feel a little more automatic.
“I think it helps because we know exactly what each other are going to do and how to do it,” Kelton said. “So it helps our success a lot.”
Dunning said their run works because of something that comes from running countless steer together: trust.
“We know our run pretty good,” he said. “If I know that he’s got it on one fast, I can just slow it down and make sure we get him caught. We’re pretty good at feeding off each other like that during the run.”
Kelton’s biggest adjustment as a rookie has been learning not to get caught playing everyone else’s game. Early in the season, he said he missed three or four steers trying to throw where everyone else was throwing. Then he and Dunning found their own pace.
“I was like, ‘Well, let’s just start catching them and see how that goes,’” Kelton said. “I’ve noticed now I can go almost two more strides past where they’re throwing and be just as fast or faster because it’s set up better.”
For Dunning, this spot in the standings is familiar, but it’s not something he’s taking for granted.
“It feels good that we’ve gotten caught back up where we kind of need to be, but it’s a long ways to the end,” Dunning said. “Just keep catching, not get too far ahead of ourselves and worry about it one step at a time.”
There’s a lot of rodeo left between now and September, but Kelton and Dunning gave themselves a real shot. For Dunning, a first NFR would mean checking off the goal he’s chased his whole life. For Kelton, doing it as a rookie would be another level.
“It’d be very cool,” Kelton said. “It’s your end goal. Get there, win a gold buckle. I think that would be really cool to first-year make it, especially for how hard it is these days to make it.”