A family man goes back to full-time cowboy, and it pays off.
Cheyenne Frontier Days has been good to Cody Rostockyj so far. The 26-year-old bull rider and family man from Texas won the CINCH Shootout last Friday and took home $10,000 for his efforts, but he is not stopping there.
Rostockyj’s career has been picking up quite a bit of steam all season long, and he’s aiming for the trend to continue all week in Wyoming.
This season is really his first in awhile to rodeo full time.
“Last year and the year before that I got hurt and stayed home. My son was just born, and I didn’t want him to forget who his dad was, so I stayed with him that summer, didn’t rodeo,” Rostockyj says and adds of his current busy pro-rodeo schedule, “I got a fire lit under me this year to go again, and I’ve been blessed. Things have been going my way. I’ve been nickel and diming them every weekend, so it’s been really good.”
Those nickels and dimes have added up and landed Rostockyj in the top 15 of the PRCA World Standings. They’ve have also earned him both, a top-three spot going into the Championship Bull Riding World Finals, held in conjunction with Cheyenne Frontier Days, and a CBR Horizon Series No. 1 spot that came with a $20,000 bonus presented to Rostockyj at the CBR Finals kick-off event in Cheyenne.
Rostockyj has the potential to walk away with a $50,000 CBR finals win and a CBR World Championship worth $100,000 at the conclusion of the finals Tuesday night. Then he’ll go on to compete in the rounds at CFD at the end of the week as he aims for a winning CFD Rodeo title to add to his belt.
“It’s mind blowing to see how much money you can walk away with here,” he says. Already the money is helpful to the father of two. His and wife Tomile’s newest baby is just three weeks old.
“[I] won $10,000. I mean that’s going to buy a lot of diapers,” Rostockyj laughs.
He’s been working hard all year to rise up in the PRCA standings. Now with his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualification within reach, Rostockyj is not slowing down. He’s been to 70 pro-rodeos so far.
“That’s the top. That’s where the crème de la crème go, the best of the best. That’s where everybody wants to go, and all the money is doubled this year,” he says of the NFR. “That’s life-changing money, especially for just a regular family guy.”
Especially this year, Rostockyj has learned how to survive life on the road and keep things business, but it helps that he loves to travel.
“When I retire from this and my wife retires, that’s what we’ll do anyway. Now I get to do it with my work, so it’s perfect.”
And coming to the family-friendly Cheyenne Frontier Days makes work all that much sweeter for Rostockyj whose family has made the trek to cheer him on.