NFR participants unfazed by Wednesday’s historic doubleheader

J.D. Struxness might have been more flustered by the doubleheader Wednesday at the National Finals Rodeo at Thomas & Mack Center had he not already been accustomed to the rigors of the rodeo schedule.

It’s nothing the veteran steer wrestler hasn’t experienced before.

“It’s not too bad for us on the timed event end,” Struxness said moments after winning the rodeo’s fifth go-round in 3.3 seconds. “We’re just going to take it one steer at a time … and hopefully we’ll end up with two more good runs.”

The sixth and seventh go-rounds of the NFR are scheduled for Wednesday morning and evening, respectively. It’ll be the first doubleheader in the rodeo’s illustrious 65-year history. The first go-round was postponed a day because of the fatal mass shooting at UNLV on Dec. 6.

The general public won’t be allowed to attend the matinee. It’s open instead to UNLV students, staff, faculty and their family members and begins at 10 a.m.

The nightcap begins at the standard start-time of 5:45 p.m.

“You’ve got your time schedule set. So you get here, you get things ready ahead of time, just like you do with the night (performance),” said Struxness, a native of Milan, Minn. “You just get ready, get prepared, know what you got, and just go out there and do your job.”

The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association calendar is peppered with rodeos that feature doubleheaders. There are go-rounds in the morning followed by go-rounds in the evening, allowing for a few hours of rest and recovery.

Those rodeos are often outdoors, adding the sweltering summer heat as a variable. But the cool climate inside Thomas & Mack Center should ease the burden of back-to-back performances.

“It’s nothing really new to us, (except) it’s the first time it’s ever happened at the National Finals Rodeo,” Struxness said. “It’ll definitely be a new experience out here (in Las Vegas) but it’s not going to fluster us or mess with us too much.”

Bareback rider Clayton Biglow agreed. Biglow tied Jayco Roper for first-place honors in the fifth go-round Wednesday.

“We do this all year long. A lot of people think 10 days is tough on a guy, which it can be,” said Biglow, a native of Clements, Calif. “But in the heat of the summer, the Fourth of July, we’re going to 10 rodeos in six days. Having back-to-back every day is not that big of a thing. It’s kind of nice honestly because you learn to forget what happened the night before.”

Biglow lamented the circumstances of the rescheduling and the deaths of UNLV shooting victims Naoko Takemaru, Patricia Navarro Velez and Cha-Jan Chang, but also noted the historical nature of the NFR’s first-ever doubleheader.

“It’s a sad deal what happened and the reason that we’re doing it, but it’s going to be history,” Biglow said. “It’s always going to be a part of history. And it’s going to be the coolest slack in all of rodeo. I know that.”

Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on X.