Meet the 2020 NFR Athletes - Jule Hazen

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BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN

After a six-year drought, 39-year-old Jule Hazen is finally making his return to the Wrangler NFR.

Typically over the course of the year, a rodeo cowboy can point to several places that made the difference between making and missing the National Finals. For Hazen, he made close to one-third of his money this season at one of America’s most prestigious rodeos - San Antonio.

Hazen had three times in a row of 3.9 seconds or less and won checks in five of the six go-rounds there. Overall, he won $10,891 in the AT&T Center with his biggest one-night total being $4,153 for a 3.6-second run in the semifinals.

JULE HAZEN - 3.6 SECONDS IN SEMIFINAL PERF 3 IN SAN ANTONIO

JULE HAZEN - 4.4 SECONDS IN SAN ANTONIO

Although he didn’t win huge anywhere else after San Antonio, Hazen strung together a solid July and September.

In July, he won $2,448 over the Fourth of July in Mandan, North Dakota and collected $2,961 a week later in Vernal, Utah. Hazen concluded the month by winning checks in Deadwood, South Dakota, Peterson, Iowa and Fredonia, Kansas in the same weekend from July 22-25.

In September, Hazen won the Elk City (Oklahoma) Rodeo of Champions and finished second at the Evanston (Wyoming) Cowboy Days to win $4,358 in a single weekend. Later on in the month, he added $970 to his earnings at the West Texas Fair and Rodeo in Abilene.

Hazen’s total of 17 runs less than 4.2 second is the most he has had since 2016. He enters the Wrangler NFR with $39,370, which is 14th in the world standings.

This will be Hazen’s fourth time competing at the Wrangler NFR.

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