Ramona cowboy shares tie-down roping win in Poway Rodeo

Deskovick sisters capture

top Mutton Bustin’ prizes

By Joe Naiman

Ramona’s Cameron Elston shared the tie-down roping win at the Poway Rodeo.

Elston split first and second with Cottonwood cowboy Jared Ferguson at the Sept. 28-29 rodeo. Each had runs of 9.1 seconds and each received $1,353 for their position.

“It was a pretty good run. I was first out, so I really didn’t know what I was going to see,” Elston said.

Elston was the first roper in the Sept. 28 evening performance.

“It ended up holding all weekend, so it was pretty good,” he said.

The rodeo was the first for the Salt River Rodeo Company calf Elston drew, so he had no knowledge of the bovine’s habits.

“He was good. I couldn’t have asked for more,” Elston said.

Elston rode a horse called Matt. The Ramona cowboy also entered rodeos in Bakersfield and San Bernardino the same weekend, but his Sept. 29 run at the Kern County Fair Rodeo included a 10-second penalty for a broken barrier and he missed his calf Sept. 30 at the Sheriff’s PRCA Rodeo in San Bernardino.

The Poway Rodeo also included a Sept. 29 Mutton Bustin’ competition for small children, and the Deskovick sisters from Ramona took first and second place. Seven-year-old Madison Deskovick won the Mutton Bustin’ while 5-year-old Kendra Deskovick was second. Their father, Matt Deskovick, didn’t place in the steer wrestling at Poway but took second place in the San Bernardino bulldogging.

“It’s been a long time,” Deskovick said of placing at San Bernardino. “It’s been a horrible year. Hopefully this will be the start of something good for next year.”

Deskovick was in the Sept. 30 performance at San Bernardino, as was winner Luke Branquinho of Los Alamos. Branquinho’s run of 5.4 seconds preceded Deskovick’s 5.5-second run.

Branquinho won the PRCA world championship in 2011.

“He’s definitely taken a good handful of them away from me,” Deskovick said of losing the rodeo to Branquinho.

Third place at the Sept. 28-30 Sheriff’s PRCA Rodeo went to Templeton’s Blaine Jones, who had a time of 5.9 seconds. Jones was also Deskovick’s hazer who guided the steer.

A steer wrestler traditionally gives 25 percent of his earnings to his hazer. The rodeo secretary gave Deskovick a check for $1,550.

“It worked out pretty good,” said Deskovick, who rode Red Horse.