The first, Kelsey Parchman and Manny Egusquiza set the arena record in the first round. Trevor Brazile and Patrick Smith came in second in the round with a 4.0 and nothing slower than a 4.5 placed.
In the second round, Brazile and Smith roped another steer in 4.0 seconds to bring their total on two to 8.0 seconds—three other teams roped their second steer in 4 flat, too. In this round, nothing faster than a 4.1 placed, with three teams turning in that time.
In the first round, Ty Blasingame and Cody Hintz stopped the clock in 4.5 seconds, but had the benefit of roping after Brazile and Smith in the second round, therefore knowing that it would not only take an arena record, but tying a regular-season record, to win the rodeo.
“Ty and I were joking about getting a 3.5 to tie (Brazile/Smith),” Hintz said. “Ty goes for everything like it’s a one-header, so I knew we would take our shot. We knew it was going to take something amazing to get the win, but we had seen this steer in the first round and knew he gave us a chance.
“The most important thing is to get a steer that runs straight, and this one was perfect. I’d like to rope him every week. It was pretty crazy. It didn’t really hit me right away. The fastest I’d ever been was 3.8 at the 2005 NFR.”
Ty “Blaster” Blasingame and Hintz were also 3.8 seconds in Amarillo in 2008. But in Salt Lake they stopped the clock in 3.4 seconds—equaling the PRCA regular season record Parchman and Egusquiza had just set and winning the rodeo.
“It was a short set up, it was just a little further than Vegas. Short, narrow arena, the start wasn’t a whole lot and it all depended on if a guy drew the right steer. They were good. We knew we had a chance to be real fast. What you need is for a steer to stay straight and be just a touch strong—not too slow—so you can make a fast run.”
As Blasingame and Hintz tried to figure out how they caught lightening in a bottle, they began to realize the perfection the run held.
“We talked about it afterwards, Cody and I, and there were no flaws,” Blasingame said. “I got slick horns and it was tight, he got him on the first available hop and it was tight. On a lot of those quick runs you might have a slick half head or a big old switch or something, that one was just flawless. I always thought to be that fast you’d have to have a slick half head because it happens so much faster, but apparently not.”
The run put them in at 7.9-seconds on two head.
“That was the fastest average on two I’ve ever seen,” Blasingame said. “You’ll see a lot of fast times on one, but then it will fall apart. I’ve never seen it be like that. I don’t know, but I think 9.8 was seventh place.”
He’s right. In fact, the team roping was so fast that only one team placed in the average with a double digit time—Jay and Austin Adams who were 10.4 on two.
“It’s got to be the fastest ever,” Blasingame said. “You can go to the NFR and there won’t be that many teams that fast on two. It was awesome to see Kelsey Parchman and Manny Egusquiza be that fast. To have watched JoJo LeMond and Randon Adams and Chad Masters all be that fast. It was just cool to be in the same air as they are because I look up to those guys.”