Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord took the 2024 Sandhills Stock Show and Rodeo win with a 7.8 on two head, a refreshing start to the new year after a less-than-ideal 2023 NFR.

The pair of 28-year-olds had a hit-or-miss trip in Las Vegas, only bringing home $42,097 each in NFR earnings after entering the Finals fourth in the world standings. Afterwards, the team changed their focus to kicking off the 2024 ProRodeo season on a positive note.

“The NFR, neither one of us roped very good, so we were pretty disappointed after the Finals” said Lord, originally from Sturgis, South Dakota. “We’re looking forward to just getting started again. We get to get that off our mind, putting that behind us, and officially start the new year with a good win. Hopefully we can keep the ball rolling for the winter rodeos and try to have quite a bit of money by the time we get to Reno (in June).”

Double 3.9s for Egusquiza and Lord in Odessa  

Odessa is known for its fast, tough setup. But for Egusquiza and Lord, it fits their run.

“Anytime it’s going to be ‘Go fast,’ we’re both pretty aggressive,” three-time NFR heeler Lord said. “I sound like a broken record, but everybody knows Dustin. When it’s ‘Go fast,’ he’s pretty hard to beat. It definitely fits what we are and what we can do best, and it worked out.”

Worked out might be an understatement. As the fifth team out Monday, Jan. 8, Egusquiza and Lord went at their steer to max him out, and with a good one drawn, Egusquiza was able to get it on him fast. They split the first round with a 3.9 for $2,246 a man. 

Contestants and spectators were seeing double in Round 2, Wednesday, Jan. 10, as the team made an almost identical run. They were 3.9 yet again, this time to split third, fourth and fifth for $1,463 a man. With a steer on the slower end, six-time NFR header Egusquiza had to make some scoring adjustments.

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“He was really slow the first time, so I had to see a lot more than normal,” said Egusquiza, a Marianna, Florida, native. “That’s not my favorite thing to do at those setups like that. I’d rather have a medium steer that’s just honest when the barrier is shorter like that. I had to see quite a bit extra. I knew I’d seen enough to where I knew I was going to get out. I think I missed it just a little bit, honestly.”

Egusquiza rode King Sabre Bare, an 11-year-old bay gelding, and Lord was paired with 14-year-old Zoomin Diamond Prom, aka the famous “Birdie.” All in all, the team pocketed $7,313 a man in Odessa.

Finding the right balance

For much of the 2023 season, Egusquiza and Lord ranked consistently inside the top five of the world standings, but their tour standings didn’t exactly reflect that.

The tour rodeos—which qualify contestants to the Puyallup Cinch Playoffs and the Cinch Playoffs Governor’s Cup—are often average races, and Egusquiza’s and Lord’s go-for-broke style didn’t always fit the bill. After last year, though, the team knew they needed to capitalize in both rounds in Odessa, the first tour rodeo of 2024.

READ: Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord Win San Antonio the Wild Way

“Especially after last year, when our deal all year was winning money in the first round and having heck catching the second one, we knew we needed to catch this one,” Egusquiza explained. “We didn’t get into Sioux Falls at the end of the year because we didn’t catch two steers very often, and tour rodeos put so much on the average.”

Egusquiza and Lord plan to remain fast in 2024, but they’ll be keeping in mind the marathon aspect of an average race, too.

“I think we need to be more conscious of it a little bit, but at the same time, we’re out there to win the most money we can and not really too worried about the points,” Lord said. “But there’s certain situations where we probably could have done better. Like if you win the first round and just need to kind of lay up a little bit to get a good average check and get the points, maybe we’ll think about that a little bit.”

Egusquiza and Lord will brave the Colorado winter and hit the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver Wednesday, Jan. 17.

READ: Winter is Here: 2024 ProRodeo Winter Rodeos Results

Odessa Results

First round: 1. (tie) Dustin Egusquiza/Levi Lord and Clay Smith/Coleby Payne, 3.9 seconds, $2,246 each; 3. Riley Kittle/Jake South, 4.1, $1,776; 4. (tie) Mason Appleton/Cooper Freeman, Trey Gallais/Denim Ross, Tyler Wade/Wesley Thorp and Andrew Ward/Kollin VonAhn, 4.3, $993 each; 8. (tie) Reno Stoebner/Clay Green and Clay Tryan/Jake Long, 4.6, $104 each. 

Second round: 1. Payden Emmett/Jace Davis, 3.7 seconds, $2,403 each; 2. Kaleb Driggers/Paul Eaves, 3.8, $2,089; 3. (tie) Cyle Denison/Dustin Davis, Dustin Egusquiza/Levi Lord and Cory Kidd V/Clay Futrell, 3.9, $1,463 each; 6. (tie) J7 Bland/Tyson Thompson and Chad Masters/Wyatt Cox, 4.1, $679 each; 8. (tie) Cole Morgan/Josh Patton and Jake Orman/Corey Hendrick, 4.2, $104 each. 

Average: 1. Dustin Egusquiza/Levi Lord, 7.8 seconds on two head, $3,604 each; 2. (tie) Clay Tryan/Jake Long, Cory Kidd V/Clay Futrell, Clay Smith/Coleby Payne and Mason Appleton/Cooper Freeman, 8.9, $2,429 each; 6. Trey Gallais/Denim Ross, 9.0, $1,254; 7. (tie) Andrew Ward/Kollin VonAhn and Riley Kittle/Jake South, 9.1, $548 each.

2024 PRCA Playoff Series Rodeo schedule