Coffeyville, Kan. (August 15, 2019) – A South Carolina man, via Texas, is leading the bareback riding at the Inter-State Rodeo in Coffeyville, Kan.
Tim Murphy, who is a student at Hill College in Hillsboro, Texas, scored 82 points on New Frontier Rodeo’s Elvis to take the lead after the first night of rodeo.
Murphy asked his bareback riding friends about the horse’s reputation before the rodeo, and the horse was known to be a good one. “The first couple jumps out of the chute,” he said, “he was pretty strong. I was talking to a couple of guys out back earlier, and they said he was the horse to draw. It would have been pretty embarrassing to buck off the one everybody wants,” he laughed. “I made sure that didn’t happen.”
Murphy, who grew up in Simpsonville, South Carolina, was never around rodeo as a kid and didn’t grow up in a rodeo family. A friend from church, a bull rider, talked him into riding a bull, but “that never worked out,” Murphy said. Then one day, when he was fifteen years old, a world champion bareback rider from the International Pro Rodeo Association, Mike Cooley, called him, asking if he’d like to get on a bareback horse. “I said, heck yeah,” Murphy said.
It wasn’t smooth going to start with. “They bucked me off for a real long time, and finally, I got tired of that, changed things up a little bit, and here I am.”
Murphy is working towards a degree in welding and will graduate in May of next year. He rodeos collegiately for Hill College.
Chance Merrill, who moved from Colorado to Coffeyville three years ago, is currently sitting second at the rodeo with a score of 80 points.
In the barrel racing, Jamie Chaffin, Burwell, Neb., is in the lead after the first night of rodeo.
Chaffin rides a ten-year-old mare, JKR Dashs Fast Star, “Bernadette,” a horse she bought from her uncle three years ago.
Bernadette, who is named after the character in the television show “The Big Bang Theory,” ran well tonight. “She really ran,” Chaffin said, “really hard. My first barrel was just perfect.” The cowgirl knew how to direct her mare around the second barrel, knowing that seeing the crowd behind the barrel might affect the horse. “I knew I had to drive her into that second barrel. She listened to me and let me do it. Running towards a crowd like that, she tends to want to rate (slow down for the turn around the barrel) too soon. I had to make sure I was on my game tonight.”
Chaffin is ranked second in the Prairie Circuit, pro rodeo’s designation of rodeos in Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska, headed for her first ever Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo in Duncan, Okla. in October.
Lately, she’s won Pretty Prairie, Kan., and Sterling, Colo., and finished in second place at Hill City, Kan., Carson, Iowa, and Burwell, Neb.
“Till I bought her,” Chaffin said, “I hadn’t pro rodeoed in several years. I never had a horse good enough to come to the pro rodeos.”
Chaffin is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern Health Sciences University, where she earned her chiropractic degree.
Leaders in other events include steer wrestler Tyler Murray, Wheaton, Kan. (4.4 seconds); tie-down roper Jerome Schneeberger, Ponca City, Okla. (10.2); saddle bronc rider Cooper Thatcher, Australia, (82.5 points); team ropers Curry Kirchner, Ames, Iowa and Daniel Reed, Ada, Okla. (5.0 seconds); steer roper Blake Deckard, Wagoner, Okla. (15.1 seconds, leading the second go-round), and bull rider Kody Aldrich, Skiatook, Okla. (75 points).
The schedule for the Inter-State Fair on August 16 includes the junior market livestock sale at 4:30 pm, the carnival from 6 pm to 12 midnight, and the final performance of the rodeo. Tickets for the rodeo are $15 and can be purchased online at www.FairandRodeo.com, at the fair office, and at the gate. For more information and a complete schedule, visit the website at www.fairandrodeo.com.
Leaders after the 1st performance and the morning’s slack, Inter-State Rodeo, Coffeyville, Kan. August 15, 2019
Bareback Riding
1. Tim Murphy, Wheeler, Texas 82 points on New Frontier Rodeo’s Elvis; 2. Chance Merrill, Coffeyville, Kan. 80; 3. Yance Day, Tahlequah, Okla. 78.5; 4. Mike Fred, Wamego, Kan. 76.
Steer Wrestling
1. Tyler Murray, Wheaton, Kan. 4.4 seconds; 2. Wacey Dorenkamp, Alva, Okla. 10.2; 3. Kyle Eike, Glenarm, Ill. 14.2; 4. Hunter Crawford, Mt. Hope, Kan. 14.5.
Tie Down Roping
1. Jerome Schneeberger, Ponca City, Okla. 10.2; 2. Blake Deckard, Wagoner, Okla. 11.4; 3. Ty Kirby, Liberal, Mo. 12.4; 4. Bryson Sechrist, Apache, Okla. 12.8.
Saddle Bronc Riding
1. Cooper Thatcher, New South Wales, Australia 82.5 points on New Frontier Rodeo’s Misery and Gin; 2. Preston Burr, Stratford, Texas 79.5; 3. Dalton Davis, Holcomb, Kan. 78.5; 4. Kirk Nelson, Branson, Mo. 74.5.
Team Roping
1. Curry Kirchner, Ames, Iowa/Daniel Reed, Ada, Okla. 5.0 seconds; 2. (tie) Ryon Boatright, Mulhall, Okla./Kingston Chang, Dodge City, Kan.; Nick Becker, Garden City, Kan./Dawson McMaster, Madison, Texas; and Jesse Stipes, Salina, Okla./Casey Stipes, Salina, Okla. 6.1 each.
Steer Roping
1st round (completed during slack this morning)
1. Will Gasperson, Decatur, Texas 15.6 seconds; 2. Guy Elliott, Vernon, Texas 16.5; 3. Cord Hodge, Tulsa, Okla. 16.8; 4. Brad Starks, Laverne, Okla. 16.9.
2nd round
1. Blake Deckard, Wagoner, Okla. 15.1 seconds; 2. Kelton McMillen, Paden, Okla. 16.3; 3. Dale Christenson, Jr. Pawhuska, Okla. 20.8; 4. Doug Watts, Claremore, Okla. 21.9.
Women’s Barrel Racing
1. Jamie Chaffin, Burwell, Neb. 17.36; 2. Lacinda Rose, Willard, Mo. 17.75; 3. Leslie Smalygo, Collinsville, Okla. 17.79; 4. Jeanne Anderson, White City, Kan. 17.89.
Bull Riding
1. Kody Adolph, Skiatook, Okla. 75 points on New Frontier Rodeo’s Show Wolf; no other qualified rides.
** All results are unofficial.
