Going for a ride: Edgewood wrestling standout wins rodeo titles

So which ride is harder to take: eight seconds on a bucking bronco/angry bull or a 1,250-mile drive to Gillette, Wyoming?

Cash Turner gets to find out after winning titles in bull riding and bareback riding at the Indiana High School Rodeo Association state finals recently. In addition to the two belt buckles and trophy saddles that come with his wins, the Edgewood standout wrestler is now headed out West to the national high school rodeo finals, a week-long event starting July 17.

The top four from each state in each rodeo event are invited, so it'll be a crowded field gathering in the town of 32,000 in the northeast part of the state. It's a 19-hour drive from here but he's looking forward to it.

"I've never actually won a state title in rodeo before," Turner said. "I knew I was a very good competitor in both events, but it was close in the points. But I knew I had what it took to win both.

"But I didn't realize in until I was in the moment that I had gotten it done."

He's the second Mustang wrestler in two years to earn a spot at rodeo nationals. Lane Deckard did it in 2020 and is currently on the rodeo team at Murray State competing in bull riding, steer wrestling and team roping.

Season-long effort

Unlike other high school events in Indiana, regular season success is vital to winning a state title as each competitor's points are cumulative from the beginning of the year. At each rodeo, points are earned: 10 for first, eight for second, etc.

At the state meet, which took place at Hoosier Horse Park in Ninevah June 10-12, more points are on the line.

Turner had three rides in each event, one on Friday, another on Saturday morning and again in the evening. Bareback riding is the first event of each session, bull riding is the last.

Nationals will be a bit different, he said, with only the top 20 coming back for the finals (short go) out of the hundreds of competitors that will be on hand.

In each of his events, there are 100 points to be had for each ride, 50 for him, 50 for the beast he's on.

The more difficult the bull is to ride, the more points. The rider only scores if they stay on for the full eight seconds and if their free arm does not touch the bull. In bareback, the rider, with one hand in a thick leather glove and wedged into a handle on the saddle, hangs on while trying to spur the horse and pulling back.

"The smoother you look, the more points you get," Turner said. "The horse does a lot of the work."

Two-sport standout

Rodeo runs all through the school year, and he's fortunate to have a mechanical bull at home to practice on. And yeah, he has a horse, one that doesn't try to throw him off, he can take nice quiet rides on.

But Turner sets that aside during wrestling season. As a junior, he went 32-2 at 138 pounds, making it back to the state finals by picking up his 100th career win.

The dual-sport role is one he all but inherited from his father Toby, who was a 1998 International Professional Rodeo Association world champion bull rider, and he was a world champion all-around cowboy. He also wrestled at Monrovia and Purdue.

Cash loves the best of both sports and it's why he chose the most demanding of rodeo events.

"A lot of it has to do with mental toughness," Turner said. "Those are the two hardest events you can do in rodeo, so it definitely ties into wrestling and all that. I use stuff I learn from rodeo in wrestling and stuff from wrestling in rodeo sometimes.

"You gotta be on your 'A' game and be ready for whatever those two events bring."

He sees the similarities all the time.

"I take the grit from rodeo into wrestling," Turner said. "The grit of riding out the last second riding the bull, or keeping a guy down for the last 20 seconds of a match to win.

"There's also the hard work and determination. If you don't work at it and practice for it, you're not going to be any good."

Last month, he spent time at a rodeo school in Arkansas.

"I'm always looking to get better," Turner said.

And at the end of next year, he might have a tough decision to make as far as college and if he'd like to compete as a wrestler or rodeo rider. He figures he'll have to buck one or the other, and it won't be easy to do.

"There's definitely going to be a decision that will have to be made in the future," Turner said. "I don't think it would be possible to do rodeo and wrestle at the same time. But there are lots of opportunities for both of those things."

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Going for a ride: Edgewood wrestling standout wins rodeo titles