ProRodeo Sports News - April 15, 2022

SHORT ROUND Standout saddle bronc rider Rusty Wright out indefinitely On the Sideline

F ive-time Wrangler National Finals indefinitely after suffering multiple breaks in his right leg at the Clark County Fair & Rodeo in Logandale, Nev., April 7. Wright told ProRodeo. com he broke his ankle and suffered a spiral fracture to his tibia. In addition to those breaks, he also broke his fibula below the knee and just above his ankle. The injury occurred after his 83-point ride on Bar T Rodeo’s Hell Boy. He underwent surgery April 8 in Las Vegas. Wright said he believes the injury will cause him to miss the remainder of the ProRodeo season but didn’t rule out a possible return. Rodeo qualifier Rusty Wright will be out

PRCA ProRodeo photo by Clay Guardipee Rusty Wright will be sidelined indefinitely after suffering multiple breaks in his right left after an 83-point ride in Logandale, Nev., April 7.

Bareback rider Champion out for the year

Seven-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifying bareback rider Richmond Champion suffered an injury that will require him to miss the remainder of the 2022 ProRodeo season. Champion announced on his social media, that the results of a recent MRI showed he has a severely bulged disc in his neck that is compressing his spinal cord. The Stevensville, Mont., cowboy underwent a cervical fusion on April 1 in Austin, Texas.

Champion said he had been sore in shoulders and neck since the end of the 2021 season, but that wasn’t cause for concern for him. “In my sport, that (soreness) is nothing out of the ordinary,” he said. “I had the SportsMed team in San Antonio

run a few strength tests on me and they told me I was pretty weak in a lot of areas that I shouldn’t be. They wanted to get an MRI. I got the MRI (the second week of March) and it is showed a disc between my C3 and C4 (vertebrae) where I had a problem. Like I said, the surgery went great and a fully recovery is expected.” A year ago, Champion finished eighth in the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $188,739. He earned $89,793 at the 2021 Wrangler NFR presented by Teton Ridge.

Champion

“The surgery went great, and I have to be immobile for a month and they slowly get back going doing stuff,” he said. “They say it is like six months when they release you to live life normally. I’m obviously in no rush to get back at that point, so I’m just going to wait until January of 2023.”

ProRodeo Sports News 4/15/2022

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