NLD Rodeo Guide 2024

2024 NLD BUFFALO BILL RODEO

SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 2024 PAGE 11

THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH

2023 RODEO CHAMPIONS

Summer Kosel, 2023 Barrel Racing Champ.

Jessica McMaster, 2023 Breakaway Roping Champ.

Clayton grew up in Colby, Kan., but now lives in Texas, working with his dad on their farm. First buckle he won: at age 17 at a bull riding school in Derby, Kan. Favorite snack: Tuna packets. “We eat those a lot. We put them on tortilla shells and eat them a bunch.” Family: mom Pattie Stevens and dad Dan Appelhans

“Usually it takes a couple weeks to get the ball rolling again.” As a kid growing up in Colby, Kan., he spent time with his aunt and cousins in Stapleton, and sometimes they’d come to the Buffalo Bill Rodeo. It was a big deal to him then, and still is. “I always thought it was cool,” he said. “It was cool when Hadley Barrett would announce my name, and now Randy (Corley) does. I really like the Beutler rodeos.”

Rodeo Assoc. breakaway champ 2022-23; KPRA reserve breakaway champ 2019- 2021; Nebraska State Rodeo Association reserve breakaway champ 2023. Family: husband Dawson Barrel racing champ: Summer Kosel South Dakota barrel racer Summer Kosel rounded the cloverleaf pattern in 17.47 seconds to best the field and win the 2023 barrel racing title. She was aboard her ten-year-old chestnut gelding Firewater French Fame, “Apollo,” who carried her to her first trip to the Wrangler NFR in 2023. She purchased the horse in the fall of 2020, and soon realized his talent. Standing at 14.3 hands, he’s very athletic. “He does stuff that most horses can’t do, in the way he moves,” she said. “He’s muscular and built more like a calf or heel horse than a barrel horse.” Apollo is intelligent and eager to please. “He’s really like a big dog. You can whistle and call his name and he’ll come to you. He’s very, very smart and very kind.” He has his quirks, too. Before he and Summer compete, he pushes himself back on his hind end, paws at the ground, does a leap and shakes his head. “That’s how you know he’s warmed up and ready. He’s like, ‘let’s go.’” Summer and her husband Kevin have four children: daughters Hope, Serenity, and Victory, and son Courage.

Apollo has a special affinity for Courage. “He’ll walk past me to go to him,” she said. At the 2023 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, Summer finished seventh in the world standings, with over $225,000 in season earnings. Bull riding champ: Clayton Appelhans It was sweet revenge for Clayton Appelhans at last year’s Buffalo Bill Rodeo. The 30 year old cowboy matched up against Beutler and Son Rodeo’s Record Rack’s Overpass for 84 points, a check for $5,520 and the win. It was the second time Clayton had drawn the bull. He’d been on him at the 2022 Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo in Duncan, Okla., but bucked off. Clayton wanted another try at him. “I was cutting wheat and had turned out of $1000 worth of rodeos because we’d had rain, and I had to stay and help harvest. I saw the draw, and I was like, ‘I’ll ride that bull this time. No doubt about it, he’s mine.’ It was my fault he bucked me off the first time, and it worked out for me, this time.” He farms with his dad in Texas, and doesn’t ride bulls full time. That puts him at a disadvantage. “I usually have pretty rough luck” in North Platte, he said, because the other bull riders have been rodeoing hard for several months while he’s been working.

Clayton Appelhans, 2023 Bull Riding Champ.

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