Meet the Member: Dillin Holub
Story by Ruth Nicolaus Because of his parents, Scott and Jenee Holub, and his granddad, George Rachau, Dillin Holub is involved in the sport he […]
story by Lily Weinacht
Heart-pumping thrills are the norm for 16-year-old Grayson Cole, but from cliff diving and riding dirt bikes to the roughstock chutes, the adrenaline never gets old – and neither does his love for one of the world’s most extreme sports. “Rodeo was never in my family before I started, but we always went to rodeos when I was growing up,” says the bull rider from Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. “Ever since I was three, I wanted to ride bulls. I’m kind of an adrenaline junky. My parents, Jeffery Cole and Nina Krammes, got me started in mutton busting and then I moved up to calves when I was seven.” Grayson qualified for the NJHFR all three years of junior high rodeo and returned to compete on the National level twice in high school before focusing his competition on the APRA and Bullride Mania. He was the PHSRA’s Junior Bull Riding Champion in 2011, while he finished in the top 15 of the IBR’s standings last year in one weekend, and was the reserve champion bull rider of the 2016 Three Willow Farms summer series.
It’s Grayson’s third year riding bulls in the APRA, and he has several role models, both in the association and on the PRCA level. “Dustin Bowen has been my mentor for a while. He’s originally from Fredericksburg, and he’s the first person from Pennsylvania to make the NFR in the bull riding last year,” says Grayson. “I used to go to his house to ride the drop barrel and do drills, so he took me under his wing. Chris Prange has been helping me out since sixth or seventh grade – he sponsored me for high school rodeo and I’ve gone to his bull riding school. His riding style fits me better – most guys get out over the front more, and Chris’s style is sitting up straight and going out to the front only when you have to.”
Grayson has backed off from the practice pen and instead rides a unicycle to stay sharp, a method he picked up from Dustin Bowen several years ago. “I noticed if I just go to a practice pen once in a blue moon, it’s better for me. I ride my unicycle on the roads or at the skate park instead. It’s easier to start out in the house going from door to door, and it takes off from there.” He’s travelling most weekends, either driving himself or hauling with APRA steer wrestler Dillin Holub. “I enjoy riding horses, and when I travel with Dillin, I’ll pony his steer wrestling horse for him,” says Grayson. He never leaves for a rodeo without the auxiliary cord for his car stereo, a must for playing his favorite music off his phone. “I really enjoy the rodeos in Huntingdon and Attica. There’s always a big crowd at Huntingdon and after the rodeo I like to go up to the lake. It was once a town, but it was turned into a lake, and there’s cliffs to jump off of. In Attica, I like meeting all the new people who come there. My drive for rodeo is the love for it. It’s not the money or the buckles – deep down it’s the ambition building up in your heart.”
Outside of the chutes, Grayson enjoys spending time with family – his older brother and sister, Keifer Cole and Cassidy Uhler, and their baby sister, Savannah Krammes. In the summer, he swims in the reservoir near his house or goes to the beach, but during the week, he worked a summer job with Alpha Mills in packaging and moving boxes. He’s now a senior at Blue Mountain High School, where he particularly likes his vo-tech math classes. Following graduation, Grayson plans to college rodeo and is considering going to school in Texas. “I’d like make the Bullride Mania finals again – I’ve been competing with them since I was 11 or 12,” he finishes, “and I’d like to qualify for my first AFR this year.”
Story by Ruth Nicolaus Because of his parents, Scott and Jenee Holub, and his granddad, George Rachau, Dillin Holub is involved in the sport he […]
story by Ruth Nicolaus Kyle Gardner is doing his darndest to keep team roping alive and well in the Northeast. The Stephentown, New York cowboy, […]
story by Ruth Nicolaus Danna Gann took a leap of faith in 2010, and has never looked back. That’s the year the American Pro Rodeo […]
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August 12, 2020
ALL AROUND COWBOY
Eli Hershberger $3,595.05
Layne Weber $2,285.55
Zane Kilgus $1,984.50
Tanner Naylor $1,107.00
Trevor Naylor $987.75
Tim Naylor $535.50
BAREBACK RIDING
Eli Hershberger $2,412.90
Tim Kent $1,036.80
Jason Wilson $252.00
Craig Taylor $151.20
SADDLE BRONC RIDING
William Stites $1,704.60
Eli Hershberger $1,182.15
BULL RIDING
Marcus Brubaker $2,592.00
Trevor Brenize $558.00
Mark Gillen $334.80
Danny Scavone $191.25
TIE-DOWN ROPING
Layne Weber $1,365.74
Zane Kilgus $1,017.00
Ned Kilgus $495.90
Trevor Naylor $495.00
Tim Naylor $432.00
Lance Hower $407.25
Andy Forrer $405.90
Tanner Naylor $297.00
Kyle Yorks $244.35
JC Fisher $198.00
STEER WRESTLING
John Leinaweaver $1,093.50
Tanner Naylor $810.00
Bump Postlethwait $695.25
Skip Smith $607.05
Jacob Rounds $517.28
JC Smith $366.75
Burgess Ovitt $245.03
Wayne Van $223.20
Mat Gartz $126.00
TEAM ROPING – HEADERS
Kelton Brown $1,818.45
Chuck Smith $1,310.85
Lavern King $1,077.75
Zane Kilgus $967.50
Trevor Naylor $679.95
Lance Hower $472.50
Eric Fabian $414.00
Jake Varner ® $414.00
LaVern King $164.25
Tim Naylor $103.50
TEAM ROPING – HEELERS
Kevin Brown $2,309.85
Casey Cox $1,676.25
Layne Weber $919.80
Mason Brehm $686.25
Paul Plume ® $679.95
Ryan Whetham $657.00
Keith Brown $573.75
Kenny Brown $517.50
Kenny Van Pelt $492.75
Mike Charles $463.50
Clay Shultz $285.75
Joe Ticconi $207.00
Jeff Michael ® $207.00
Ken Kimbel $199.80
ALL AROUND COWGIRL
Lauren Wagner $1,903.50
Sierra Galusha $1,451.01
Anna Poorbaugh $876.69
Riley Shetron $815.85
BARREL RACING
Doreen Ulery $2,496.96
Janet Kerr $1,995.48
BethAnn Borowy $1,596.60
Jaime Fowler $1,220.40
Madison Iager $861.84
Lauren Wagner $702.90
Riley Shetron $635.85
Sierra Galusha $619.86
Nicky Kurty $601.20
Summer Konopinski $572.85
Rachel Samuels $486.00
Wendy Chesnut $450.90
Joceyn Petchel ® $422.10
Lisa Barone $396.45
Laura Lee Thomas $370.44
Kristen Buchleitner $324.27
Brooke Klinger $307.80
Hannah Kennedy $293.63
Anna Poorbaugh $238.14
Alex Little ® $113.40
BREAKAWAY ROPING
Lauren Wagner $1,319.40
DeNiess Kilgus $1,016.55
Katie Wenger $1,003.50
Sierra Galusha $831.15
Taylor Feldeisen $654.08
Anna Poorbaugh $638.55
Courtney Shannon $395.89
Sierra Ellsworth $356.40
Anagrace Kennard ® $216.00
Kelsey King $210.60
Riley Shetron $180.00
Tracey Brennan $172.12
Katherine Yorks $77.40
Christina Brown $77.40
Rylee George ® $70.20