BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN
The 2019 College National Finals Rodeo champion has a chance to add a Wrangler National Finals Rodeo Gold bucjle to his collection as he has qualified for his first National Finals in 10th place in the steer wrestling world standings.
Anderson racked up $43,877 and wins in Mandan, North Dakota and Mesquite, Texas in 2020 and the 22-year-old says he still has not fully processed what he has accomplished this season.
“It’s still unbelievable that we’re going to head to our first NFR, I bet I it doesn’t all process until after I run that first steer,” he said.
Anderson said he and his family, who has made plenty of sacrifices for his rodeo career, do not typically watch the standings, but they were at the end of this season.
“You do a lot of crazy things when you’re on the bubble,” he said.
Anderson made a statement early in the 2020 season by winning more than $5,000 in Fort Worth and $10,000 in San Antonio.
In the Alamo City, five of his six runs were 4.3 seconds or less.
“It was great, I felt like I was a lot more mentally and physically prepared to go steer wrestle all year this year,” he said.
BRIDGER ANDERSON - 4.1 SECONDS IN SAN ANTONIO
In addition to his win in Mandan during the summer stretch, which earned him $3,876, the North Dakota cowboy also won checks of $2,000 or more in Woodward, Oklahoma, Spanish Fork, Utah, Rapid City, South Dakota, Gunnison, Colorado and Gooding, Idaho.
It may be his first Wrangler NFR, but Anderson still brings a championship a pedigree to Globe Life Field. In addition to his college national title, he won two state rodeo championships in high school as well as a state wrestling championship.
“You can’t jump one of those steps,” he said. “You kind of have to pay your dues at every one of them and now we’re going to look at doing well at the National Finals. Knowing we’ve had luck at the steps before then, hopefully will just roll right into next step, which is doing well down there (in Texas).”
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