Last Cowboy Standing Injury Report

By: Staff reports May 11, 2014@ 09:45:00 AM

J.B. Mauney has a right hip pointer injury and a sprained right sacroiliac joint. Photo by Matt Breneman / BullStockMedia.com.

LAST COWBOY STANDING INJURY REPORT (5-11-2014)

LAS VEGAS ― J.W. Harris stood on the dirt inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center watching the replay of his 4.96-second buckoff against Strike Back on Friday night.

He then shook his head and hobbled his way past the chutes and down the hallway toward the locker room before taking a quick right into the PBR sports medicine room to get his right foot looked at for the second-consecutive week.

Harris sustained the injury, which is officially listed as a broken third metatarsal in his right foot, last week in Colorado Springs, Colorado, during the Rumble in the Rockies when he was bucked off by Long John in 6.16 seconds during the Built Ford Tough Championship Round.

At the time, Harris didn’t think it was anything serious, even if it did “hurt like a son of a (expletive).”

Harris doesn’t believe the injury will change his summer plans, especially his June 13 matchup with Bushwacker at Chad Berger’s annual Touring Pro Division event in Bismarck, North Dakota. However, the four-time PRCA champion says he will have to wait and see what Freeman says after he undergoes X-rays on Monday in regards to his availability for J.W. Hart’s PBR Challenge on May 31 in Decatur, Texas. Harris is currently slated to face J.B. Mauney in a $25,000 winner-take-all challenge in which he will climb aboard Shepherd Hills Tested and Mauney will attempt to ride Asteroid.

“No, not really,” Harris replied when asked if his summer plans would be altered due to the injury. “I think it will only be two-to-three weeks, hopefully. For sure, I’ll be in Bismarck. We’ll see what Tandy says on Monday.”

According to Dr. Tandy Freeman, much will be learned on Monday from the X-rays.

“It’s the metatarsal, which is one of the long bones in the foot, right where it attaches to the toe,” Freeman said. “Likelihood, he is out anywhere from four-to-six weeks, depending on the nature of the fracture and how they can fix it.”

Mauney had to spend a significant amount of time in sports medicine on Saturday night after sustaining a right hip pointer (severe bruise) injury and a sprained right sacroiliac joint, when he was slammed onto his right side with authority by Funky Town.

The defending World Champion was using his right arm to brace himself against the wall and remained standing as he left the sports medicine room.

Originally, Mauney was going to accept his re-ride option, but he eventually turned down the opportunity and spent the majority of the night icing his injuries in sports medicine.

“The bull just fell on top of me, and that’s just the way it goes sometimes,” Mauney said. “I think I will be alright. I ain’t moving so good right now. I just need to relax.”

When asked about competing at the end of the month in Decatur, Texas, he replied, “Oh yeah, should be.”

Guilherme Marchi, who began the weekend ranked second in the world standings, had to be helped off the dirt after twisting his right knee on Friday night after he was bucked off by Kujo in 3.69 seconds.

Regardless, the 2008 World Champion brushed it off and went on to win the Last Cowboy Standing title on Saturday, while also reclaiming the top spot in the world standings heading into the summer break.

The opposite could be said for Valdiron de Oliveira. The Brazilian missed the remainder of Last Cowboy Standing after tearing the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee when he landed on it while being thrown from Bird Creek on Friday night.

“I don’t think it’s a complete tear, and even with a high-rate partial tear, that may not require surgery,” Freeman said. “He is going to require about 12 weeks of not getting on and rehabbing. Even at the end of that, he might still need surgery. If he tries to go back to soon, he can convert it from a partial tear to a complete tear.”

Oliveira said he heard a “pop” in his knee and has a follow-up with Freeman on Tuesday. He said that regardless of what his MRI shows, he will most likely be taking the entire summer off with the goal of ideally returning in time for the BFTS second-half opener in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“It is so sore,” Oliveira said. “I need to stay off it now. It is good to have break right now, three months. It depends on what the doctor says on Tuesday. I don’t care; anyway, I will take the break off.”

Carlos Garcia tore his right distal biceps tendon (at the elbow) attempting to ride Pontiac on Friday night. He will have surgery to repair the tendon and will be out for six months. Stetson Lawrence sprained his right knee (MCL) when his foot hung in his rope as he was thrown from Apollo Stripes in Round 1. Brant Atwood lacerated his left leg when he spurred himself while being thrown from Cooper Tires Brown Sugar in the first round. He was sutured in the training room. Marco Eguchi sprained his left knee (MCL) when he twisted his knee while riding Lil Lanch for 85.75 points.

Tanner Byrne nodded his head on Saturday night with a sore right knee and quadriceps tendon.

Fabiano Vieira, who was the No. 1-ranked rider at the start of the weekend, did not ride in Las Vegas after dislocating his right shoulder (free arm) last week in Colorado Springs when he was tossed to the ground by Cowtown Slinger. Vieira had already been competing with a torn right rotator cuff and now his season could be in jeopardy.

“He had a rotator cuff tear to begin with, and apparently, he dislocated his shoulder in Colorado Springs, which means at the very least with the cuff tear, he may have torn more of the cuff,” Freeman said. “In other words, previously, it looked like it was mostly one of the mild one of the tendons, now it may be more and he may done some damage to the capsule.

“His chances of being able to come back and ride with that without fixing it and not have trouble with it is about zero. Whether he fixes it or not, he does not want to have surgery if it at all possible, and it’s the kind of thing where he has to make the decision to do it. It needs to be fixed. If he doesn’t fix it, he is going to continue to have instability problems and it will never get better.”

Chase Outlaw missed his fifth-consecutive BFTS event due to a strained right groin and Billy Robinson was out with a left groin strain.

Other riders that will be continuing their rehab processes this summer include Robson Palermo (right shoulder dislocation, glenoid fracture, and rotator cuff tear), Nathan Schaper (broken left leg), Reese Cates (right shoulder) and Shane Proctor (left shoulder).

Cates (surgical stabilization) and Proctor (reconstructive surgery) had both been ruled out earlier this season for up to six months.

Freeman says both riders are progressing along as planned with their rehab schedules.

As expected, there were a variety of riders competing with a range of different injuries at the start of the final event (18th overall) of the first half: Mauney (left thigh bruise), Eduardo Aparecido (right hip adductor strain), Mike Lee (sore right knee, following arthroscopic surgery last month for a torn meniscus), Ryan Dirteater (unstable left knee) and Sean Willingham (broken right foot).

Silvano Alves (right shoulder separation), Oliveira (right shoulder injury), Douglas Duncan (sprained left hand/thumb) and Eguchi (sore right hand) began the weekend already dealing with injuries to their riding arm/hand, while Renato Nunes (unstable right shoulder) and Brady Sims (sore right shoulder) were riding with injuries to their free arm.

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

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