PRORODEO Sports News - November 22, 2024

BULL RIDING Late Surge Strong finish propels Gray to top of standings

BY ALEX DODD I t took a while for bull rider T.J. Gray to start picking up signature wins this season. But he stayed the course. Gray entered July with $69,429 on his ledger and hit his stride over the summer. Thanks to consistency early in the season and a hot streak down the stretch, Gray will enter his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo presented by Teton Ridge as the leader in the PRCA | RAM World Standings. “I wasn’t really breaking through and getting a lot of big wins, but I was staying on and keeping my head in the zone,” Gray said. “That travels through to the end of the year. I just had to stay in the fight, always stay in the fight. It just kind of keeps you up there.” As of Oct. 15, Gray unofficially led the bull riding standings with $244,844 – $8,821 more than the second bull rider in the world, Hayes Weight. But the top seven cowboys in the standings are separated by less than $50,000, and with round wins at the Wrangler NFR paying more than $30,000, the race for the coveted gold buckle is anything but finished. “It’s pretty cool. Vegas pays a lot…so there ain’t really that much comfort, no matter how much of a lead you have. There’s so much money left in the year that it doesn’t really give you a comfort zone. “But it gives you a little confidence that you’re supposed to be at the top, so stay there.” As a rookie in 2021, Gray finished 45th in the standings with $25,040. The following season, he pocked $20,265 and finished 84th. Last season, he started to find success, earning $93,082 to finish 22nd and narrowly miss out on a trip to Las Vegas. Gray consistently picked up checks throughout the 2024 season, but the big wins came in the second half of the year. Things started to click for Gray in August. He won $106,850 over the last two months of the season to move from the bubble to the top of the standings. Gray closed the season with a $17,879 win on Sept. 22 at the North Dakota Roughrider Cup and a $14,611 payday at the Cinch Playoffs Governor’s Cup from Sept. 26-28 in Sioux Falls. “This last part of the year has really treated me well, but it starts at the beginning of the year,” Gray said. “I rode with the same confidence at the beginning of the year. I was staying on a lot of bulls.”

2024 BULL RIDING STANDINGS

1. T.J. Gray, Dairy, Ore. ............................... $244,844 2. Hayes Weight, Goshen, Utah .................... 236,023 3. Jace Trosclair, Chauvin, La. ...................... 212,965 4. Josh Frost, Randlett, Utah ........................ 211,064 5. Clayton Sellars, Wildwood, Fla. ................. 207,366 6. Jeter Lawrence, Council Hill, Okla. ............ 206,134 7. Wacey Schalla, Arapaho, Okla. .................. 194,096 8. Chase Dougherty, Canby, Ore. .................. 165,013 9. Trevor Reiste, Linden, Iowa ...................... 160,670 10. Cooper James, Erda, Utah ...................... 158,998 11. Tristen Hutchings, Monteview, Idaho ...... 150,460 12. Jordan Spears, Redding, Calif. ............... 129,997 13. Trey Kimzey, Strong City, Okla. ............... 128,455 14. Tyler Bingham, Howell, Utah ................... 125,616 15. Creek Young, Rogersville, Mo. ................ 121,609

FROM THE CHAMP

“You work so hard to win a world title, and you have to tell yourself that you’re a badass and that you can win. When you’ve got that buckle on your waist that says world champ, you don’t have to think it anymore, you know it.” – Ky Hamilton

Hamilton

QUOTABLE “It’s pretty cool. Vegas pays a lot . . . so there ain’t really that much comfort, no matter how much of a lead you have. There’s so much money left in the year that it doesn’t really give you a comfort zone. “But it gives you a little confidence that you’re supposed to be at the top, so stay there.” – T. J. Gray

T.J. Gray pairs up with Bridwell T.J. Double Threat during the Puyallup Rodeo on Sept. 7 in Puyallup, Wash. John Pyle photo photo

ProRodeo Sports News 11/22/2024

ProRodeo Sports News 11/22/2024

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