Ropers Brown/Harrison Teaming Back Up for Wrangler NFR
When team ropers qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo it’s not uncommon for them to have to choose a new partner for the rodeo because their partners didn’t finish in the Top 15 in the PRCA | RAM World Standings.
That’s not the case this year.
The only team that didn’t rope together for the majority of the 2020 season and is paired up at the Wrangler NFR is header Luke Brown and heeler Joseph Harrison.
Brown and Harrison briefly joined forces for one rodeo, and the results were life-changing as the duo won RFD-TV’s The American at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, March 8.
Brown and Harrison each took home $103,000 after winning The American with a Shoot-Out time of 4.30 seconds.
With $53,000 counting toward the world standings for each roper, it helped Brown ($89,665) and Harrison ($70,299) finish atop their respective regular season world standings.
Brown roped during the season with Patrick Smith, the 2005 and 2010 World Champion Team Roping Heeler. Smith finished 21st in the 2020 world standings. Harrison roped with Wyatt Imus, who failed to make the NFR.
“The last steer Luke and I ran for money at was at The American,” Harrison said. “It was really nice and I’m glad Luke waited on me to win that rodeo. Unfortunately, our partners didn’t get in the (NFR) so they will not get to go with us and that stinks, but it is what it is, so we are just going to have to make the best of it. Luke’s a really good dude so I’m sure it will be fun.”
Brown is ready for the reunion.
“This will be exciting,” he said. “We’re good friends and we’ve done good together when we have roped in the past and if I can do my job, I think it will work out fine. It would be good if we could repeat our history (from The American). That was a fun day and it was exciting to win such a big event.
“The (2020 Wrangler NFR) is going to be a different set up and it is going to be unique and it all is exciting.”
The other team roping pairs set to compete at the 2020 Wrangler NFR at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, Dec. 3-12 are:
• Luke Brown-Joseph Harrison
• Clay Smith-Jade Corkill
• Cody Snow-Junior Nogueira
• Colby Lovell-Paul Eaves
• Dustin Egusquiza-Travis Graves
• Andrew Ward-Buddy Hawkins II
• Clay Tryan-Jake Long
• Levi Simpson-Shay Carroll
• Charly Crawford-Logan Medlin
• Chad Masters-Wesley Thorp
• Erich Rogers-Paden Bray
• Nelson Wyatt-Levi Lord
• Jeff Flenniken-Tyler Worley
• Kolton Schmidt-Hunter Koch
• Brenten Hall-Chase Tryan
First-time headers at the Wrangler NFR are Ward, Wyatt and Flenniken. Heelers making their NFR debuts are Medlin, Bray and Lord. Wyatt/Lord are the only partners who are both making their inaugural appearances at the NFR.
Courtesy of PRCA