Riley Webb has won two straight PRCA Tie-Down Roping World Championships and they came in very different ways.
In 2023, he was the leader the entire season and had to play defense in Las Vegas. This year, however, he was on the offensive from the get-go at the National Finals.
Webb immediately applied pressure to Shad Mayfield by winning the first two Go-Rounds of the NFR with runs of 7.0 and 7.8 seconds.
He followed it up with two more runs in the 7s to put himself in a dead heat with Mayfield with six rounds to go.
“I feel like, watching the last few years of the NFR, it seems like the first couple rounds before we get to the re-runs are easier rounds to place in,” he said. “The times that win the first couple rounds might be fourth of fifth later in the week, so I knew I needed to get off to a good start, try to win as much as possible early. And I did that.”
Webb placed in Rounds 6-8 and Mayfield only won one check in that time, that put Webb in a situation where all he had to do was catch in Round 10 to seal the NFR Average and win the Gold Buckle. He did just that on Saturday, putting an extra wrap on his calf and recording a time of 8.3 seconds. He finished with an aggregate time of 79.7 on 10 to win the Average by almost 11 seconds.
“That horse Rudy, he makes it so easy for me, fast starts, long starts, it doesn’t matter,” he said.
The 21-year-old entered the NFR No. 4 and trailed Shad Mayfield by about $70,000 after Mayfield broke Webb’s regular season earnings record. Webb, however, made $258,307 in Las Vegas and ultimately finished the season with $475,214 to break his own single season earnings record.
During the NFR, Webb also became the youngest cowboy to cross $1 million in career earnings. In just three ProRodeo seasons, he has won $1,137,601.
“One Gold Buckle is awesome, to come in here and back it up two years in a row, no words can describe it,” he said. “I am so very blessed to get to do this for a living.”
