ProRodeo Sports News 2023 Year-End Edition

ALL-AROUND COWBOY WORLD CHAMPION

Saddle bronc rider Stetson Wright tried to gut out his ride on Duane Kesler’s Double Red in Round 1 but failed to make the whistle. Wright missed Rounds 3 through 10 of the Wrangler NFR with a right hamstring strain. PRCA ProRodeo photo by Roseanna Sales

PRCA ProRodeo photo by Click Thompson

Five Straight

Stetson Wright adds eighth gold buckle by taking All-Around title

athlete in the world. It’s not a cocky thing, that’s just what I feel in my mind and what I tell myself. “That’s how it felt all year. I was confident and I was rolling. Then even when I tore my hamstring (at the Wilderness Circuit Finals Rodeo), I was still 89 points and won the round. “ I just couldn’t get my body to work the way I wanted it to out here in Las Vegas. But I can tell you, this world title means a lot because it was won off of my hard work all year.” Wright’s world title collection consists of all-around titles in 2019-23, bull riding (2020, 2022) and saddle bronc riding (2021). The Milford, Utah, cowboy joins a select group of ProRodeo Hall of Fame cowboys – Joe Beaver, Roy Cooper, Don Gay, Larry Mahan, Don McLaughlin, Rich Skelton, Harry Tompkins and Fred Whitfield – who have won eight PRCA World

Championships. There are only 18 cowboys in PRCA history to win at least eight world championships. Wright is chasing ProRodeo Hall of Famer Trevor Brazile, who has the PRCA record with 26 world championships, including a record 14 in the all around. “My goal is to break Trevor’s (all-around) record and the way I’m going to do that is being wise enough to know when to hold’em and when to fold’em. This was a week of folding them (at the NFR) and just trusting that everything my dad (Cody, ProRodeo Hall of Fame saddle bronc rider) is telling me is going to pan out for the best. If I’m going to get there, I have to be healthy for the next ten years. But eight-time world champion sounds a whole heck of a lot better than seven that’s for sure.”

BY TANNER BARTH R odeo superstar Stetson Wright began his career wanting to be a for him to realize that he might be just as good at bull riding. Wright has proved that every step of the way since his PRCA debut in 2018. Despite being sidelined after Round 2 of the 2023 Wrangler NFR in his championship level saddle bronc rider, the same craft his father Cody mastered during his ProRodeo Hall of Fame tenure. It didn’t take long

two events – saddle bronc riding and bull riding – because of a right hamstring strain, Wright clinched his fifth PRCA All-Around World Championship and eighth gold buckle overall with $479,621. “Nobody ever has a fully healthy season in this sport, that’s unheard of,” said Wright. “Every time you get on, you’re getting dinged up a little bit. But if I’m anywhere in the 90 percent range health wise I do feel like I’m the best

ProRodeo Sports News 12/22/2023

ProRodeo Sports News 12/22/2023

ProRodeo.com

ProRodeo.com

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