McMillen wins first rodeo title

After suffering from knee and back injuries over the past 2 years, steer wrestler Casey McMillen, grandson of Cheyenne County Commissioner, Ken McMillen, won his first title in a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) rodeo in over 26 months.

The steer wrestler’s comeback came at the La Fiesta de los Vaqueros rodeo in Tuscon, Ariz. Feb. 16 through 24 where he took $7,296 in winnings.

During the first round in the steer wrestling competition, McMillen tied for fifth place with a time of 4.5 seconds. In the second round he had a time of 5.0 seconds, and in the final round he wrestled his steer in 4.1 seconds, giving him the best overall average of 13.6 seconds for three heads of steer and the title.

This was McMillen’s first competition since surgery six months ago for a ruptured disk, according to PRCA ProRodeo officials.

“I went there thinking I could win it to be honest,” McMillen told officials after his win. “As bold as that sounds, I knew I was feeling as good as I had in a long time and that if I got good steers I’d have a chance.”

According to rodeo officials, the La Fiesta de los Vaqueros has always been one of McMillen’s favorite rodeos. One reason in particular being that in 2009 when he and his wife, Ryanna were driving to the Arizona show they found out that they were expecting their child Tuscon James McMillen, who will be 4 years old in October.

But winning is nothing new to McMillen, the 32-yr-old who qualified three consecutive times for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2007 through 2009, and ended fifth in the world in 2009.

But the road back to the rodeo circuit has been long for McMillen, who suffered from multiple injuries after his last competition in 2010.

“It started when he blew up his left knee at the Sisters Rodeo in June 2011,” said rodeo officials. “Doctors used ligaments harvested from cadavers to replace his ACL and PCL, and they also repaired and reattached his MCL to the bone.”

After 6 months of knee rehabilitation, McMillen got back up on his saddle in 2012, said officials.

But injury soon struck the young cowboy again at the Ponoka Stampede that July.

McMillen told rodeo officials that he had suffered from chronic back pain for about a year before his disk finally ruptured at Ponoka.

“The collagen from the disc filled my spinal cavity and my legs went numb,” he told officials. “I had surgery in August and felt better right away.”

McMillen told officials that although some pain still lingered, he is happy and excited to be competing again.

“I had two clean runs down the middle at Tuscon and in the days after that I felt like I’d been in a pretty decent car wreck,” he told PRCA representatives. “But believe me, I’ll take the normal pain that comes from competing over rehab.”

“He’s back, he’s healthy and he’s competing like the Casey McMillen of old,” said rodeo officials.