John Flook and Chad Zgragen have been competing in rodeos together ever since they were in high school. Although neither placed in last weekend’s Salinas rodeo, both said they enjoyed the experience of competing with some of the best in the world.
Flook, who lives in Tres Pinos, and Zgragen, who lives in Paicines, competed in high school rodeo together all four years and played football together at San Benito High School. The 26-year-old cowboys have traveled across the country competing.
Flook finished with 68 points in the first round of the saddle bronc competition in Salinas last weekend, falling four points shy of advancing to the short round. He has been in Salinas six times, but he hasn’t managed to win anything yet.
“It’s hard because they have 80 guys in the first round and they only take 12 back to the final round,” Flook said. “It is hard to draw a good horse. The horse I drew was just a little easy to ride for that caliber of rodeo. I needed a horse to buck a little harder than the one I had.”
Flook has had success though in the past. He finished second in Ermington, winning $5,000.
“I go to some good rodeos all the time,” Flook said. “It is good to get on some of the best buckin’ horse and to ride with some of the best guys. It will bring you up to par.”
Flook usually attends about 30 to 40 rodeos. But last year he had to limit the number he attended because of the birth of his daughter. He hopes to start going to some of the larger ones again next year.
“Right now I am have a hard time making qualifications at some of the bigger rodeos,” Flook said. “I like Salinas because it’s like my home town rodeo, and it’s one of the biggest there is. But it hasn’t been a good place for me.”
Zgragen started team roping when he was 12. Shortly after, he picked up tie-down calf roping and has been competing in the event ever since.
“That’s the great thing about rodeo – a guy who works for a living can go to one those rodeos like Salinas and compete against the best in the world,” Zgragen said. “Sometimes you have good luck and you can win and sometimes you can’t.”
Zgragen has been competing in Salinas for four years and has made it to the finals twice.
Zgragen hurt his knee earlier in the year and hasn’t gone to as many rodeos as he normally would. He said he usually attends 30 rodeos but has been to just 12 this year.
“It is looking like the end of August I will be back competing on my normal schedule,” Zgragen said.
He has won several smaller titles like at Bakersfield, Anchor Valley and Lancaster. Lancaster made the short round at the Cow Palace in San Francisco three of the four years he has been there.
A lot of times he ends up in the slack competition. But he did compete in the Thursday and Friday night performances in Salinas. For Zgragen, it’s all about the start.
“The most important thing is the barrier,” Zgragen said. “If you let the calf get too far, a lot of times no matter how good of a horse you have, they will never let you get close enough to rope them.”
Zgragen said he used to get nervous when competing against the some of the world’s best.
“In a rodeo like Salinas, you walk up and see some of the top guys in the world and that pumps you up pretty fast,” Zgragen said. “At first when I was a rookie, it was a little intimidating roping against some of the guys I grew up watching. But once you have done it a couple years and you have got that experience, it’s not intimidating at all. It gives you that incentive because you know if you have beat them before you can beat them again.”
Zgragen is currently in third place in the California Pro Rodeo Circuit standings with 11,112 points in the Tie-Down Division, and Flook is 11th with 2,687 points in the Saddle Bronc.
Both Flook and Zgragen will be competing in Santa Rosa the final week of July.
