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Ranching against the clock

Counterfeit Cowboys win Ranch Rodeo by a point

Alex Eisen/MDN Cowgirl Delaney Sheets (right) and her Moose Bar & Grill/Mouse River Air teammate work together in the trailer loading competition in Thursday's Ranch Rodeo at the North Dakota State Fair.

Consistency, plus having a little bit of margin of error to work with, helped the Counterfeit Cowboys from Sherwood hold off Towner’s Dokken Construction/B&J Excavating Thursday evening in the second and final night of Ranch Rodeo at the North Dakota State Fair.

The Counterfeit Cowboys consisting of Jared Engh, Tony Smith, Corey Westerness and Leon Cameron didn’t win a single event, but scored 43 points regardless to earn the hard fought victory.

Surprisingly enough, none of the Top 4 overall teams claimed an event win across the five events: steer mugging, range branding, wild cow milking, trailer loading or trailer relay.

Second place Dokken Construction/B&J Excavating with Tony Best, Jeff Kuntz, Neil Schell and Jason Zahn actually beat out the Counterfeit Cowboys in a head-to-head battle in the trailer relay to wrap up the night. But, even that wasn’t enough to overtake them for the overall win, as the Counterfeit Cowboys finished two and a half second behind them and only lost a point in the event. Dokken Construction/B&J Excavating ended up with 42 points.

The Bud Light Wranglers from Bottineau took third place with 39 points despite not finishing in the Top 3 of any of the events. The only other team that didn’t place on the podium throughout the evening was the Last Round Up Ranch and they finished in last with 19 points.

The rodeo action at the All Seasons Arena saw flashes of greatest from nearly all the teams, but that was usually followed up by a mediocre or forgetful performance quickly after.

For example, Towner’s Moose Bar & Grill/Mouse River Air won two events (range branding and trailer relay). Yet, it was a steer that kicked out in the steer mugging competition to give them a no time/no score, which drastically hindered their chances at the overall win. Even more heartbreaking was the only cowgirl in Thursday’s competition, Delaney Sheets, had made a quick catch and the team was on pace for the second-fastest time.

The only non-North Dakota team, the Stilwell Ranch from Belvidere, South Dakota, also had a steer kick out in the first round. They came back to win the next event, range branding, with the fastest time posted all evening (17.92 seconds).

The Misfits from Columbus, North Dakota, roped and guided a steer into a trailer in just 25.09 seconds to win the trailer loading contest. Again, it was one of their lone bright spots, as they finished 10th overall.

The event winner was the Border Bandits from Sherwood in steer mugging competition. The momentum of winning the first event didn’t carry over. Shannon Hanson, Mike Resch, Mark Smith and Lynn Schmidt dropped a zero point, no time in the second round range branding event.

The Counterfeit Cowboys completed all five events in a time of four minutes and 9.14 seconds.

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.

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