Young Gun Cowboys Killing it Here at Rodeo Corpus Christi

By: Kendra Santos

Kadin Javadi is a 17-year-old high school senior who’s getting set to graduate from Templeton High School. The Eagles star outside linebacker and tight end out on the gridiron made the grueling 25-hour trip from the Central Coast of California for the $553,000 Rodeo Corpus Christi count, while also taking advantage of the World Champions Rodeo Alliance’s Division Youth (DY) incentive program that’s available to rodeo’s 13-18-year-old young guns.

Javadi struck for both the buckle for being the 2022 DY year-end champion and the skim board for winning the DY steer wrestling title with 11.09 seconds on two steers here at Rodeo Corpus Christi. While Texan Sam Powers topped the steer wrestling average with 9.69 seconds on two, Javadi placed third among all the open steer wrestlers here at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown, and will now advance to the performances, which start Wednesday evening at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi.

“This is my first WCRA event, and it’s been awesome,” said Javadi, who’ll turn 18 in July and plans to play in the area All Star football game the first week in June. “Everyone helps each other, it’s run good and everybody’s nice. I’m definitely excited to be here, and am fortunate enough to advance. We’ll see what happens from here, but so far, so good.”

Kadin will run his next steer here during Friday night’s performance at American Bank Center. Meanwhile, what will he do with that cool new Rodeo Corpus Christi skim board?

“I’m more of a lake guy, but doing a little boogie boarding here this week is not out of the question,” smiled Javadi, who’s next stop is the California High School Rodeo Association State Finals in Bishop next month. The all-around cowboy will compete there in steer wrestling, team roping and tie-down roping. He may even throw his name in the saddle bronc riding hat at the other end of the arena, thanks to the tutelage of Cal Poly Rodeo Coach Ben Londo.

“Next month’s All Star game will end my football career, unless I decide to walk on at Cal Poly my junior or senior year,” said soon-to-be Cal Poly ag systems management major Kadin, who’s hoping he might grow a little bit beyond his 6 foot, 185-pound self between now and then. “As far as rodeo goes, I’ve been around horses my whole life. I started at gymkhanas, that led to junior rodeos and here I am. I just want to go as far as I can in rodeo now.”

Javadi’s been mentored in the bulldogging by five-time World Champion Steer Wrestler Luke Branquinho, as has his hazer here, Tucker Allen. Tucker’s also advancing to the perfs across town. Kadin and his traveling partner Carson Jones, who’s an 18-year-old senior lineman at De La Salle High in Concord, California, plans to play football and rodeo for Cal Poly when he kicks off his freshman year in the fall as an ag business major.

Both Cali cowboys just competed at back-to-back Ote Berry’s Junior Steer Wrestling World Championship Tour events in Oklahoma on their way to Corpus Christi, and hope to qualify for the OBJSWWC at the Junior World Finals in Las Vegas this December. They also both rode Javadi’s new bulldogging horse, Rango, who’s a former head horse previously owned by reigning World Champion Team Roper Kaleb Driggers.

Javadi earned the $2,500 DY average bonus, the Rodeo Corpus Christi skim board that’s a popular prize with this week’s DY average champs, and the buckle for finishing as the DY Leaderboard #1. He finished fourth in Round 2 and third in the overall average behind Texans Sam Powers and Justin Shaffer, making Kadin the $4,230 leading money earner among all steer wrestlers in the early going here at Rodeo Corpus Christi.

The Javadi family grows wine grapes, and Kadin plans to work his way into their Javadi Farms business. The same work ethic that has him climbing the rodeo ladder will come in handy in both arenas, as he and a friend started their own hay business last year.

“Why not come all the way from California to compete in Corpus Christi?” Javadi asked out loud. “It’ll be a fun week, and this is a great experience.”

Jones seconded that.

“I love competing against all the pros,” said Carson, who’s had steer wrestling help from the likes of Trav Cadwell and Rope Myers. “It gets a little fire going in my belly. My rodeo goal is to win the NFR. Might as well go big, right?”

The youth movement here at Rodeo Corpus Christi has done just that. Other DY winners have thus far included Texas cousins Conley Kleinhans and Bray Fenogilio in the team roping, and Arkansas cowboy Avery Matheson in the tie-down roping.

The young guns have proven they can hang with the big dogs if given the chance, with 12 DY contestants advancing to the performances over at American Bank Center. Moving on in the steer wrestling are Javadi, Blaze Byler and Jaedyn Winters. Kleinhans and Fenogilio, Nolan Mayberry and Blaine Burleson, Guy Raasch and Carson Sonnier, and Blaine Burleson and Bronc Kothmann are advancing in the team roping. Five cowboys—Matheson, Clayton Huston, Guy Raasch, Juan “JT” Garcia and Tyler Calhoun—made it out of the preliminary rounds in the tie-down roping, and will give the veterans more heck at American Bank Center later this week.