BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN @PRORODEOBRETT
While there were no PRCA Playoff Series Rodeos, the best bareback riders got together in Darby, Montana, while the best bronc riders descended upon Fort Pierre, South Dakota at the Casey Tibbs Match of Champions Xtreme Broncs.
At both of those events, we saw some up-and-comers compete and hold up well against some NFR staples.
Additionally, there were four rodeos in four states that paid out more than six figures - the Mt. Pleasant Rodeo (Texas), the Santa Maria Elks Rodeo (California, Old Fort Days (Arkansas) and the Home of Navajo PRCA Rodeo (Arizona).
The first weekend of June served as terrific primer for what we will see during 100 Rodeos in 100 Days.
- It is the second straight year the Darby Xtreme Bareback Riding has been won with a 90+ Point Ride on Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Night Crawler. Last year, it was Kaycee Feild taking first on that horse with 93.5 points and in second place was Cole Reiner, who was victorious this year with a 92-pointer. Reiner won $17,000 last week, $13,000 of which came from Darby, and has won more than $24,000 on Night Crawler this year as he also rode that horse for 89 points to split the Short Round win in San Antonio.
- There were a total of four rides of 90+ points in Darby, making the total 13 in the last three years. Reiner came out first in an incredibly competitive Final Round that saw four scores in the 90s courtesy of Kade Berry, R.C. Landingham and Keenan Hayes in addition to Reiner. Furthermore the Top 8 were all 89 points or better, meaning Jake Lees, Cooper Cooke and Dean Thompson all made just $611 for terrific rides.
- Steer wrestler Will Lummus won both rodeos in Arkansas over the weekend. Lummus had not made a check since March, but the No. 5 steer wrestler in the World seemed unbothered by that as he brought in almost $6,000 between Old Fort Days and the Crossett Riding Club Rodeo. All four of his runs were 5.2 or faster and three of them were 4.5 or faster. He has now on eight times in the Southeastern Circuit in the last two seasons combined.
- Rookie saddle bronc rider Zac Dallas swept the Casey Tibbs Match of Champions Xtreme Broncs. Perhaps the biggest winner of the entire weekend was the rookie from New Mexico who made rides of 88 and 89 points to take home more than $10,000 from South Dakota which shot him from No. 32 to No. 18 in the World Standings. To make it more impressive - he drove 16 hours through the night to get there and bested three multi-time NFR qualifiers in the Short Round.
- Dustin Egusquiza/Levi Lord made three runs of 4.3 or faster to finish Top 3 in three rodeos over the weekend. In 2023, Egusquiza/Lord had more 3.7 Second or Faster Runs and Go-Round Wins than any other pair, they also ranked second in 4.5 Second or Faster Runs. That was on full display this weekend when the pair was 4.3 in Mt. Pleasant (Texas) for third, 3.7 in Rodeo Celina (Texas) for first and 4.2 at the Durant Pro Rodeo (Oklahoma) for second. This year, they already have 15 runs of 4.5 Seconds or Faster as Egusquiza is No. 1 in the World on the head side while Lord is the No. 2 heeler.
- Rusty, Ryder and Statler Wright finished Top 3 at the Santa Maria Elks Rodeo. Its been to known to happen before, and it happened again, a parade of blue shirts dominated the leaderboard in California with Rusty riding for 87, Ryder going for 83.5 and Statler sharing third with Cameron Messier at 79.5. Rusty has won three times since the beginning of 2023 and all of them have been in California.
- Meanwhile, Statler notched his eighth win of the year with a 90-pointer at the Home of the Navajo PRCA Rodeo. Wright matched up with R.Watson’s Ed Bishop to make his highest marked ride of a weekend that delivered him three paydays. In 2023, he finished No. 20 in the World and won a total of nine times. Currently, he is No. 3 in the PRCA World Standings.
- There were nine steer wrestling times of 4.3 or faster at the Mt. Pleasant Rodeo. It was a three-way tie for first between Tanner Brunner, Tyler Waguespack and Jay Williamson at 4.0 followed by two 4.1s, two 4.2s and two 4.3s. Talk about a tight leaderbaord.
- All three of the roughstock winners at the Grand Prairie Stompede rode for at least 88.5 points. This Alberta rodeo kicked off Canada’s biggest rodeo month of the year in style - bareback rider Cole Goodine was 89.5 on Duffy Rodeo’s Blue Bananas, saddle bronc rider Lucas Macza was 88.5 on Duffy’s Bay Moon, and reigning Canadian Bull Riding Champion Edgar Durazo won with 89 points on Vold Rodeo’s Wild Time.
- Brush Minton is your new PRCA World All-Around leader after checks in both tie-down roping and team roping in Santa Maria. Minton made his NFR debut a year ago and sits No. 8 in the World in the tie-down roping this year, however, something bigger could be coming his way - a Gold Buckle. Over the weekend, his $1,240 in team roping $1,900 in tie-down roping pushed him ahead of Marcus Theriot by about $2,000. Minton has $46,167 in the All-Around race to Theriot’s $44,106.
- Rookie Wacey Schalla won both the bull riding and bareback riding at the Mt. Pleasant Rodeo (Texas). Last month, he won two different rodeos in two different events in the same weekend, but this was even more impressive. He was 79.5 in the bareback riding and 84.5 in the bull riding to win over $3,000 total. He is No. 22 in the PRCA Bull Riding World Standings and No. 34 in the PRCA Bareback Riding World Standings.
