PRCA Standings Shuffle: 34 Move Up in Top 15
If Stetson Wright continues to win like he did Sept. 14-20, he’ll have a chance to be a triple crown winner at the 2020 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
Winning a collective $14,254 last week pushed Wright 11 spots in the PRCA | RAM World Standings for bull riding, from 19th to eighth.
“Heck yeah,” Wright said when he heard the latest on the world standings.
Last week, Wright earned $7,952 at the PRCA Xtreme Bulls Tour Finale in Nephi, Utah, and picked up an additional $4,033 after winning the Lion’s Dixie Roundup in St. George, Utah, and $2,269 at the Gooding (Idaho) Pro Rodeo.
Wright is 18th in the saddle bronc riding world standings, a mere $2,261 outside the Top 15. That gap could easily close at the upcoming Gold Buckle Beer ProRodeo Tour Finale in Rapid City, S.D.
“I feel good but I know I’m not in the Top 15 in the bronc riding, but I just got the callback for Rapid City and there’s a lot of money to be won there,” Wright said.
The reigning 2019 All-Around World Champion won the 2019 ProRodeo Tour Finale’s saddle bronc riding with a 93.5-point ride on Calgary Stampede’s Yesterday’s Delivery to earn $10,701. Despite the big win late in the season, he fell short on qualifying for the 2019 NFR in saddle bronc riding.
“I did well there last year, but was about $30,000 out, so hopefully I can repeat that and come out way higher,” Wright said. “I broke my jaw and came back with the best week of bronc riding I’d ever had. I hope I can repeat that and don’t see why I couldn’t.”
Wright is No. 3 in the all-around world standings with $74,647. Because ground money counts in the bull riding world standings but not in the race for the all-around world title, Wright about $21,000 away from the top spot that’s occupied by tie-down roper and steer roper Tuf Cooper.
“I don’t see why I can’t walk away with three world titles instead of one,” Wright said. “Ryder (Wright) and Wyatt (Casper) are high up, but with the amount of money at the Finals it’s not over until the last day. It’s all about how you show up, and hopefully I can end this week good and it’ll make the all-around easier too.”
Wright wasn’t the only ProRodeo athlete to strike gold last week. With the end of the 2020 regular season on the horizon, cowboys competed for a collective $768,226 in prize money across 13 competitions Sept. 14-20, and 34 cowboys climbed the ranks within the Top 15 of their respective events.
Cowboys know it’s easier to maintain a position at the top than it is to play catch-up when trying to qualify for the Wrangler NFR.
Other cowboys to improve their position within the Top 15 last week include:
Eight Spots
• Clayton Sellars moved from 22nd to 14th in bull riding.
Six Spots
• Colten Fritzlan moved from 13th to seventh in bull riding.
Four Spots
• Roscoe Jarboe moved from 10th to sixth in bull riding.
Three Spots
• Westyn Hughes moved from ninth to sixth in tie-down roping.
• Paul Eaves moved from 10th to seventh in team roping heeling.
• Tanner Brunner moved from 15th to 12th in steer wrestling.
• Chase Tryan moved from 17th to 14th in team roping heeling.
Two Spots
• Clayton Biglow moved from sixth to fourth in bareback riding.
• Travis Graves moved from eighth to sixth in team roping heeling.
• Bridger Anderson moved from 10th to eighth in steer wrestling.
• Jacobs Crawley moved from 10th to eighth in saddle bronc riding.
• Parker McCown moved from 11th to ninth in bull riding.
• Clayton Hass moved from 12th to 10th in steer wrestling.
• Lefty Holman moved from 12th to 10th in saddle bronc riding.
• Cody Lee moved from 15th to 13th in steer roping.
• Brenten Hall moved from 16th to 14th in team roping heading.
One Spot
• Cole Patterson moved from second to first in steer roping.
• Sage Kimzey moved from second to first in bull riding.
• Jacob Talley moved from third to second in steer wrestling.
• Colby Lovell moved from fifth to fourth in team roping heading.
• Curtis Cassidy moved from sixth to fifth in steer wrestling.
• Junior Nogueira moved from sixth to fifth in team roping heeling.
• Clay Tryan moved from eighth to seventh in team roping heading.
• J. Tom Fisher moved from ninth to eighth in steer roping.
• Caleb Smidt moved from 10th to ninth in tie-down roping.
• Jeff Flenniken moved from 11th to 10th in team roping heading.
• Garrett Hale moved from 11th to 10th in steer roping.
• Jake Brown moved from 12th to 11th in bareback riding.
• Nelson Wyatt moved from 13th to 12th in team roping heading.
• Chet Herren moved from 13th to 12th in steer roping.
• Hunter Herrin moved from 14th to 13th in tie-down roping.
• Chad Rutherford moved from 16th to 15th in bareback riding.
• Roger Branch moved from 16th to 15th in steer roping.
Cowboys on the bubble for a spot in the Top 15 can find themselves a few dollars short of qualifying for the Wrangler NFR. With only a week left until the end of the 2020 season it’s a stressful position to be in but steer wrestler Jesse Brown and saddle bronc rider Dawson Hay still have a chance to regain some ground.
Brown moved from 17th in steer wrestling and is $450 away from breaking into the Top 15. Hay moved from 18th in saddle bronc riding and is $324 away from breaking into the Top 15.
The outcome of this week’s competitions are sure to make an impact on the world standings and possibly on who will qualify for the 2020 Wrangler NFR and NFSR.
Fans can catch the rodeo action on the PRCA on Cowboy Channel Plus App this week for the following competitions:
• The Gold Buckle Beer ProRodeo Tour Finale in Rapid City, S.D., Sept. 22-26 at 9:30 p.m. (ET)
• The Cowboy Capital of the World PRCA Rodeo in Stephenville, Texas, Sept. 25-26 at 8 p.m. and Sept. 27 at 3 p.m.
Check back with ProRodeo.com next week to see who moved up within the Top 15 of the world standings.
Courtesy of PRCA