PRORODEO Sports News - August 5, 2026

Haven Meged clocks an 8.3-second run in the short round to win the NFR Open July 18 in Colorado Springs, Colo. PRCA photo by Kay Miller

HAVEN MEGED NABS FIRST CIRCUIT NATIONAL TITLE SINCE 2019 win bolstered his season and pushed him into position to qualify for his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. At the 2019 NFR, Meged placed in five rounds, won the average, nabbed the Resistol Rookie of the Year honor in tie-down roping and finished the season as a world champion. He

A pair of PRCA World Champions stole the show in the tie-down rop ing during the championship round of the NFR Open at the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo presented by John Deere Saturday night. Shad Mayfield, the 2020 gold buckle winner in tie-down and 2024 all-around champion, set the stage in the winner-take-all short round. After advancing out of Pool B, the Texas Circuit cowboy upped the ante in the last go-round with an 8.9-sec ond run to move to the top of the leaderboard. But Montana’s Haven Meged, the 2019 tie-down roping champion, wouldn’t be outdone. He responded a few outs later with an 8.3-second run to win his first circuit finals national championship since he topped the field at the 2019 National Circuit Finals Rodeo in Kissimmee, Fla. “When somebody goes out and blasts in front of you, it makes you want to do better and gets your adren aline going,” Meged told the PRORO DEO Sports News after the perfor mance. “I’m glad he (Mayfield) went fast so I had something to go at.” Meged’s last national circuit finals win came in the midst of his sensa tional Resistol Rookie campaign. The

automatic bid to the Wild Card Round of the Cinch Playoffs at the Puyallup (Wash.) Rodeo, Sept. 10-13. “It’s always great to get a big win here,” Meged said.

hopes this win at the NFR Open leads to similar success down the stretch. “It feels great,” Meged said. “The last time I won this was 2019, and it catapulted me into my first NFR. I’ve been trying (to win this title again) ever since, and it’s great to finally get it done again.” Meged is on a roll. As of Aug. 5, he sat fourth in the PRCA | Bill Fick Ford World Standings in tie-down roping with $121,944. Meged qualified for the NFR Open out of the Montana Circuit. He reached the short round out of Pool C by tying for third in Round 1 with a 9.4-second run and finishing third in Round 2 with a 9.6-second run. He advanced out of the pool with the second-best average time in his group at 19.0 seconds on two head. He earned $2,625 for his efforts in pool competition. His event win in the finals earned him an additional $13,000, a Polaris Ranger and an

12 PRORODEO SPORTS NEWS DIGITAL MAGAZINE August 5, 2026