Matt Sherwood

Matt Sherwood – Pima, Ariz. ($76,204)
6-time WNFR qualifier
2-time World Champion

Matt Sherwood told Chelsea Schaeffer on the Team Roping Journal’s podcast “The Score” that this season had been a big rollercoaster ride.

Looking at his statistics, his career could be likened to a rollercoaster as well. Matt, from Pima, Arizona is headed to his sixth Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 11th place with $76,204 won during the regular season.

He joined the PRCA in 1994 and kept roping as a side business. He and his wife have seven children and have now joined the grandparents club. In 2006, he qualified for his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo with Walt Woodard. They won the 10-head NFR championship and Matt got his first gold buckle. Walt finished as the reserve champion heeler behind Allen Bach.

The next year he was roping with Randon Adams and missed rodeo’s championships by two spots. In 2008, he and Randon were back in Las Vegas and they both left with gold buckles. Matt missed 2009 and 10, then qualified again and roped with Cory Petska.

The next time he nodded his head in the Thomas and Mack Center, he was roping with Walt Woodard’s son Travis Woodard. That was 2015. He was back in 2016 roping with Quinn Kesler.

It’s been three years since he has roped at rodeo’s championships and he is excited to be back this year. He has been roping with Hunter Koch (Cook) from Vernon, Texas. Hunter will be the third partner that is making their first trip to heel at the NFR with Matt roping in front of them.

They spent a lot of time in Canada this year and that paid off with rodeos that counted in both the PRCA and Canadian standings. Hunter stayed up there a bit and Matt flew back and forth. The last trip they made there in 2019 was for the Canadian Finals Rodeo where they won the final round, the six-head average and the Canadian title – good practice for the NFR.

No one is more excited about Matt’s sixth NFR qualification than his family and friends. After all, this rollercoaster ride will have him in one place for 10 days, a rare occurrence this past year.