ProRodeo Sports News 2023 Year-End Edition

WAGUESPACK’S ROUND 10 MAGIC BRINGS TITLE NO. 5 For the second year in a row, Tyler Waguespack worked his Round 10 magic to win another PRCA Steer Wresting World Championship. Waguespack split the Round 10 win with a 3.8-second run, which helped him to reach third in the average and walk away with world title No. 5. “The run that I was able to pull off with the steer that I had was awesome, he was a hard running steer,” said Waguespack, who entered Round 10 in fourth place in the world standings. “I wasn’t very happy about him and having drawn him. I talked to my hazer and said if you can get up there and shut him down at all, we can get a good run. We ran him over halfway and the Lord was behind me right there. We turned sideways, but golly it worked out.” TEAM ROPERS WADE/THORP WIN HEADER, HEELER TITLES An all business, efficient run in Round 10 was all that separated team ropers – header Tyler Wade and heeler Wesley Thorp – from coveted world championships. Well, the duo clocked a 5.4-second time and that left them third in the average with a $50,517 check, catapulting them to capture gold buckles. Wade was making his sixth NFR appearance and finished a career-best eighth in the 2022 world standings. That’s not the case anymore. Wade finished with $308,057 in the world standings and Thorp earned $325,284. “I don’t know yet. It hasn’t sunk in. I told Thorp I don’t know if I’m a world champion or not. I know he is because he already has one. I just let him guide me,” Wade said. “ Thorp won his lone world championship in 2019. “This is unbelievable because all I can think about are the times you are down throughout the year, and you have to find something to pick you up,” Thorp said. HAMILTON NABS FIRST BULL RIDING CHAMPIONSHIP The emotional rollercoaster ride that was the 2023 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo presented by Teton Ridge for bull rider Ky Hamilton ended with

a gold buckle and average buckle.

Hamilton finished atop the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $595,414 and clinched his first career PRCA World Championship on Friday night at the Thomas & Mack Center. Hamilton, who is a native of Mackay, Australia, is the first Australian to capture a PRCA Bull Riding World Championship. Hamilton broke the single season bull riding mark, breaking Stetson Wright’s mark of $592,144 in 2022. Hamilton also captured the RAM Top Gun Award for the first time in his career by earning $239,060. The Top Gun Award was created in 2010 and is given to the contestant who wins the most money at the Wrangler NFR in one event. “It means everything. That’s what I came over here to do,” Hamilton said. WRIGHT CAPTURES FIFTH-STRAIGHT ALL-AROUND TITLE Superstar Stetson Wright has added another world championship to his resume. The Milford, Utah, cowboy clinched his fifth career PRCA All Around World Championship and eighth overall. Despite being sidelined after Round 2 of the 2023 Wrangler NFR in his two events – saddle bronc riding and bull riding – because of a right hamstring strain, Wright clinched the all around crown with $479,621. “This is awesome,” said Wright, 24, about winning the all-around title. “Through everything that happened here recently, the humbling experience that I have been a part of. To know that I blew everybody out of the water so much that I didn’t have to win a penny at the Finals in order to win this is pretty special. “This will be a world title I will not forget. I stopped thinking about world titles after I pulled myself out of the NFR. I just wanted to be healthy, and it is pretty special to win something like that when you’re not even able to finish the richest ten days of the year.” Wright’s world title collection consists of all-around titles in 2019-23, bull riding (2020, 2022) and saddle bronc riding (2021).

Steer wrestler Tyler Waguespack split the Round 7 win in 3.8 seconds on the way to winning his fifth PRCA World Championship in dramatic fashion.

PRCA ProRodeo photo by Hailey Rae

ProRodeo Sports News 12/22/2023

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