PRCA Standings Shuffle: 37 Move up in Top 15
Team roping heeler Buddy Hawkins II can take a sigh of relief after jumping five spots in the PRCA | RAM World Standings last week.
Hawkins went from ninth to fourth, thanks to scoring a collective $8,510 across multiple rodeos last week with his partner, team roping header Andrew Ward. Now the duo is safely in the middle of the Top 15 and are likely to maintain a 2020 NFR-qualifying status.
“What a blessing,” Hawkins said. “A big thing for Andrew and I is this is what we do for a living, and ultimately the National Finals is where the most money is. You win as much there in a week as you do in the whole season. We know during the week that winning $8,500 is a great week and that’s encouraging for us.”
Ward and Hawkins won the Lake County Round-up in Lakeview, Ore., for $2,460. They also picked up $2,223 by placing fifth at the Magic Valley Stampede in Filer, Idaho, $2,037 by tying for second at Evanston (Wyo.) Cowboys Days, and $1,790 by tying for third at the Iron County Fair and PRCA Rodeo in Parowan, Utah.
“I’m living the dream out here and we had the blast enjoying all four seasons,” Hawkins said. “It was 100 (degrees) in Filer, and 40s in Evanston and then in the teens in Laramie so it was a neat week of five rodeos in five states (including Gunnison, Colo.). Andrew turned a good one in Gunnison so he went five-for-five and I heeled four of them.”
Hawkins is a two-time qualifier for the NFR (2013 and 2018) with nearly half a million dollars in career earnings since his rookie year in 2011. Now the 33-year-old Kansas cowboy is set for a third qualification partially thanks to winning the Woodward (Okla.) Elks Rodeo for $5,510 in mid-June.
Ward and Hawkins weren’t the only ones to pull out all the stops last week. The only breaks ProRodeo took during Labor Day Weekend came from cowboys breaking into the Top 15 of the world standings.
With the end of the 2020 regular season on the horizon, ProRodeo athletes competed for a collective $800,745 in prize money across 14 competitions held Aug. 31 through Sept. 7 and 37 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 2020 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Every dollar counts in the race for a gold buckle, and it’s not unheard of for world titles to be determined by an extremely thin margin.
Other cowboys to improve their position within the Top 15 last week include:
Four Spots
• Ryan Jarrett moved from 11th to seventh in tie-down roping.
• Ty Wallace moved from 11th to seventh in bull riding.
Three Spots
• Landon McClaugherty moved from fifth to second in steer roping.
• Levi Simpson moved from 13th to 10th in team roping heading.
• Roscoe Jarboe moved from 13th to 10th in bull riding.
Two Spots
• Ky Hamilton moved from third to first in bull riding.
• Cody Snow moved from fifth to third in team roping heading.
• Andrew Ward moved from eighth to sixth in team roping heading.
• Richmond Champion moved from 10th to eighth in bareback riding.
• Jule Hazen moved from 13th to 11th in steer wrestling.
• Chase Brooks moved from 13th to 11th in saddle bronc riding.
• Will Lummus moved from 14th to 12th in steer wrestling.
• Cory Solomon moved from 14th to 12th in tie-down roping.
• Colten Fritzlan moved from 15th to 13th in bull riding.
• Stetson Wright moved from 17th to 15th in saddle bronc riding.
• Daylon Swearingen moved from 17th to 15th in bull riding.
One Spot
• Cole Patterson moved from second to first in steer roping.
• Marty Yates moved from sixth to fifth in tie-down roping.
• Orin Larsen moved from seventh to sixth in bareback riding.
• Curtis Cassidy moved from seventh to sixth in steer wrestling.
• Trevor Kastner moved from seventh to sixth in bull riding.
• Shay Carroll moved from eighth to seventh in team roping heeling.
• Thomas Smith moved from eighth to seventh in steer roping.
• J. Tom Fisher moved from ninth to eighth in steer roping.
• Paden Bray moved from 10th to ninth in team roping heeling.
• Jacobs Crawley moved from 10th to ninth in saddle bronc riding.
• Garrett Hale moved from 10th to ninth in steer roping.
• Jess Tierney moved from 11th to 10th in steer roping.
• Rocky Patterson moved from 12th to 11th in steer roping.
• Clayton Hass moved from 15th to 14th in steer wrestling.
• Matt Sherwood moved from 15th to 14th in team roping heading.
• Taos Muncy moved from 15th to 14th in saddle bronc riding.
• Hunter Herrin moved from 15th to 14th in tie-down roping.
• Cody Lee moved from 15th to 14th in steer roping.
• Trey Yates moved from 16th to 15th in team roping heeling.
• Jim Locke 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 few weeks left until the end of the 2020 season, it’s noteworthy to see who is on the cusp of breaking into the Top 15.
• Taylor Broussard moved from 17th in bareback riding and is $1,792 away from breaking into the Top 15.
Kyle Lockett moved from 18th in team roping heeling and is $76 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 the Cowboy Channel Plus App this week for the following competitions:
The RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo in Greeley, Colo., Sept. 10-11 at 9 p.m. (ET), Sept. 12 at 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. and Sept. 13 at 4 p.m.
Three Rivers Shrine Club Pro Rodeo in Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 11-12 at 8 p.m.
The Yellowstone Riggin Rally in Darby, Mont., Sept. 13 at 1 p.m. (competition held Sept. 7)
Check back with ProRodeo.com next week to see who moved up within the Top 15 of the world standings.
Courtesy of PRCA