Erich Rogers and Paden Bray Rope in $17,134 Over Cowboy Christmas
For the second year in a row, team ropers Erich Rogers and Paden Bray scored more than $17,000 during Cowboy Christmas. This year’s haul was the most among the ProRodeo athletes who competed the first week of July.
In 2019, the pair earned the seventh-most money of all timed-event cowboys with $17,349. Despite having fewer rodeos to enter and more cowboys competing at the ones that were held this season because of COVID-19, Rogers and Bray nearly matched their 2019 total with $17,134 won during this year’s Cowboy Christmas.
“I told Paden that as soon as they let us compete we will have to hit it as hard as we can and win as much as we can so we’re not in the same position as last year,” Rogers said. “Every little dollar counts.”
Their Cowboy Christmas haul launched Rogers (the 2017 team roping heading world champion) from 20th to 10th among headers and took Bray into the Top 15 for the first time in his ProRodeo career, going from 20th to eighth among the heelers.
“It’s a breath of fresh air to have it come together,” Bray said. “We really needed it rodeo-wise and financially. I’ve been 16th and 17th, but never inside the Top 15. I feel like this is where I wanted to be my whole life, and to be here is pretty awesome.”
Bray, 21, finished his inaugural ProRodeo season as the 2019 PRCA | Resistol Rookie of the Year for heeling.
While Rogers, 33, made the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo for the ninth time in a row last season, Bray narrowly missed qualifying, finishing 17th in the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $72,884.
The duo won the Cody (Wyo.) Stampede and picked up checks at the World’s Oldest Rodeo in Prescott, Ariz., Mandan (N.D.) Rodeo Days and the Sitting Bull Stampede in Mobridge, S.D.
Their biggest win of the week came at Cody where they collected $8,671 each.
“I was really excited, especially now since it’s a big rodeo and way, way important because we don’t know if we will have another rodeo like that,” Bray said. “Cody is a rodeo you want to win, $8,600 is outstanding. There’s a lot of guys without that much won at all. My hat’s off to Cody for having that rodeo, we really appreciate it.”
For more coverage of the 2020 Cowboy Christmas run, check out the July 10 edition of ProRodeo Sports News.
Courtesy of PRCA