Leighton Berry has taken the first half of March to climb the standings. The Texas bareback rider has taken advantage of the good draws at some of the highest paying rodeos of the year and topped it off by becoming a back-to-back RodeoHouston Champion. This makes Berry your Exmark Roughstock Athlete of the Week.
Berry placed in all three go-rounds of Super Series 3, his highest ride of the Super Series coming in Round 1 with an 82.5-point ride. He earned $2,500 to sneak into the Top 4 and advance to the Semifinals.
It only went up from there with every round. A tie for second with an 85-point ride aboard Redzilla of Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s in the Semifinals landed him right where he needed to advance to the 10-man Round of the Finals. His 10-Man draw was Ain’t No Angel of the Cervi Brothers Rodeo and the two would go the eight to be 88 points.
In the Four-Man Championship Shootout rolled around, he matched up with the critically acclaimed Agent Lynx of Calgary Stampede. A 91.5-point ride would cinch Berry his second RodeoHouston title. In the last seven Texas Swing events held dating back to last year, Berry has won three of them.
Houston marked Berry’s first Texas Swing win of 2024 and it is the biggest that Texas has to offer. The $50,000 that came along with the win has bumped Berry to the No. 1 bareback rider in the PRCA World Standings with $74,559 and gave him a $17,000 lead. He started the weekend at No. 17.
A season ago, Berry finished the Texas Swing No. 1 in the World with more than $100,000.
