Melancon Cherishes First World Finals Qualification, Focused on Rookie of the Year Title

By: Justin Felisko

ARLINGTON, Texas – Cole Melancon stood outside the Miller Tavern at Texas Live! as a crisp, warm breeze circulated around the patio.

Melancon did not necessarily need to be wearing his black leather 2020 PBR World Finals qualifier jacket, especially with it being a beautiful, sunny 70-degree day in Arlington, Texas. Yet wearing the jacket, which had his named embroidered on the chest, was more of a sentimental moment than a need for warmth.

Qualifying for the World Finals for the first time is something Melancon and 11 other riders this season have dreamt of for their entire lives, and the leading contender for the 2020 Rookie of the Year award, couldn’t help but break into a smile.

“I am ready for sure,” Melancon said with a grin. “I am excited. I just have been playing it off like it is another bull riding, but now that it is here and it is getting closer, it is starting to hit the spot.”

The 2020 season has featured a slew of difficulties as the PBR continues to navigate a worldwide pandemic, and one of those adjustments came with moving the annual World Finals out of Las Vegas and to AT&T Stadium for the first time in PBR history.

Of course, Melancon would have enjoyed competing inside T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip, but he won’t complain about being able to ride inside AT&T Stadium.

 
The Paris, Texas, bull rider grew up about two hours from the home of the Dallas Cowboys, and he was a crucial member of the victorious Team USA Eagles at the 2020 Global Cup USA earlier this year.

Melancon’s, fiancée, Raelee, and their 2-year-old daughter, Lariat Lace, will be in attendance, while Cole’s parents will be enjoying the World Finals being broadcast on CBS Sports Network at home.

“Coming to a place like here, it is going to be nice to have everybody here, and it is going to be nice to be in a big stadium like this, and a big stadium I have had success in,” Melancon said. “So I feel like it is all going to play a factor toward me.”

Melancon went 2-for-4 inside AT&T Stadium to team up with two-time World Champion Jess Lockwood and lead the Americans to their first victory on home soil in an international bull riding team competition.

Now Melancon can look to join Lockwood as one of 26 Rookie of the Year winners.

The two-time NFR qualifier takes a slim 55-point lead on No. 2 Alex Cerqueira into Round 1 on Thursday night.

There are currently 10 riders in contention for Rookie of the Year as of Wednesday morning who are tentatively expected to compete in Arlington.

“I am not saying it is a super tight race, but it is close,” Melancon said. “Shoot, even Boudreaux (Campbell) can come in. He is riding good, and there is enough points here to catch whoever.”

Campbell is the No. 3-ranked bull rider in the PRCA’s bull riding standings, and he was also a member of the Team USA Eagles. Campbell earned his way to his first PBR World Finals by ending the Unleash The Beast regular season with a seventh-place showing in Nampa, Idaho.

Melancon made quite the splash in his debut at Iron Cowboy in February, becoming the second rookie in PBR history to win a PBR Major. The 26-year-old earned 200 of his 314.5 points with that victory, and it has kept him atop the rookie standings all year long even as he dealt with injuries to his knees, groins and hip.

 
Melancon is 11-for-46 (23%) this season on the Unleash The Beast, and he knows he needs to increase his consistency if he wants to walk out of the stadium Sunday with that Rookie of the Year title.

“As long as I go out there and do my job, like what I did at the beginning when I started, that is where I need to get back to mentally and physically,” Melancon said. “I told you earlier that I was going to do whatever it took to get that Rookie of the Year. I still have that mindset. It has been a rough few weeks, a rough few months. I can’t blame COVID or anything like that for how I have been riding. I just had some small issues I needed to work out. I took some time off from bull riding for a couple weeks and got some things mentally lined up.”

Melancon admitted Tuesday he has been struggling with a lower-body injury this year, possibly a torn labrum, but he said he does not believe it should slow him down at the World Finals. He was able to take the last three weeks off to rest his body, and that break should pay dividends.

“I am good,” Melancon said. “I feel good everywhere. I have a few small problems that just hurt whenever I ride a bunch of bulls. We will probably get on four or five bulls within four days. You will see a bunch of guys limping and banged up, but it is nothing we can’t handle.

“I am not going to worry about it or anything like that. What am I going to do? Get it fixed? No. Not this close to the Finals. Unless it kills me so bad this weekend, I won’t probably get it looked at.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media

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