BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN @PRORODEOBRETT
At the 2024 NFR, Derrick Begay finds himself in an uncommon position. He arrives in Las Vegas as the reigning Average Champion, but his partner, Colter Todd, just missed qualifying, ranking No. 16 on the heel side. Begay, who just made the field himself as the No. 15 header in the PRCA World Standings, will rope with Jonathan Torres with a tough challenge ahead.
San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, $22,250
Begay and his partner, Colter Todd, got off to a strong start in San Antonio, splitting the Round 1 win in Bracket 4 and advancing to the Semifinals, where they ranked second in their group with $4,750.
In the Semifinals, they placed fifth, but fought back to win the Wild Card with a 4.3-second run. In the Finals, they posted a 3.8 to tie NFR team Clint Summers and Jake Long, winning the rodeo based on total earnings.
This was Begay’s fourth Texas Swing victory, and he has now won three of the five events: San Antonio, Austin, and San Angelo.
San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo, $5,348
Begay/Todd’s lone qualified time in San Angelo matched their fastest run of the year. A 3.6 tied them for the Round 2 win with Dustin Egusquiza/Levi Lord, who will both enter the NFR No. 1.
Begay’s last five qualified times in San Angelo have been 4.6 seconds or faster dating back to 2022.
NFR Open, $10,000
In tournament-style rodeos, finishing strong often matters far more than starting well. In Colorado Springs, Begay and Todd rebounded from a 15.1 and an 11.7 on their first two runs. Their two-head time of 31.3 seconds was somehow enough to advance them, and they placed second in the Finals with a 4.5, narrowly losing to two-time World Champions Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira by just one-tenth of a second.
Snake River Stampede, $3,444
Begay and Todd clocked their second 3.6-second run of the year in July at Nampa, securing second place in Round 2. This time was not only the second-fastest of the round but also the second-fastest of the entire rodeo.
California Rodeo Salinas, $9,751
Begay and Todd placed second on 2-of-4 runs in Salinas and their time of 49.0 seconds on five was good enough for third in the Average.
New Mexico State Fair and Rodeo, $3,964
Begay’s last big check came in Albuquerque, where he and Todd were 4.9 seconds to split second. It proved to be much needed as Begay finished about $3,000 ahead of Nelson Wyatt and only won $2,263 the last two weeks of the season.
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