ProRodeo Sports News - April 5, 2019

RODEO AUSTIN

Rising Stars

Young team roping duo wins Rodeo Austin title

BY MATT NABER T he top team ropers at Rodeo Austin (Texas) were among the youngest ropers to hit the arena. With a combined age of 41, team roping header Laramie Allen, 19, and 22-year-old permit-holding heeler Jace Davis got the best of some of ProRodeo’s top competitors and living legends with their 4.6-second run in the finals. “It was one of my dreams to be around those guys, let alone competing with them, so it’s surreal to know you’re right there with them,” Davis said. “Since I was a kid it was a dream to ProRodeo, and it seems like yesterday I was dreaming it. But now it feels like I’m living it, and I’m thankful for that.” Allen wasted no time in competing in ProRodeo. Within a month he filled his permit to buy his PRCA card. FromDec. 4, 2017, to Jan. 16, 2018, he won $3,112 on his permit and started his rookie year for the 2018 season. He went on to rank fifth in the PRCA | Resistol Rookie Standings for team roping headers with $17,574. “In my opinion, if you’re going to be out there rodeoing, you might as well try to make the Finals,” Allen said. “As soon as we (Allen and former partner Ross Ashford) filled our permits, we got going.”

Davis, Allen’s new partner, is on a permit, but with a Rodeo Austin win on his résumé, Davis is ready to buy his card and see what the 2019 season holds. Davis won $1,500 during the 2016 season but was kept out of competition in 2017-18 due

to a hand injury. “I couldn’t close my fingers all the way, but it’s back to normal now,” Davis said. The 2019 season marks the Capitan, N.M., cowboy’s return to professional rodeo. Allen and Davis knew each other from youth rodeos but didn’t join forces until the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver in January. “I made the National High School Finals in 2014, but there’s nothing like winning Austin,” Allen said. Davis won his share of youth rodeo accolades, including a truck at 14. “That was the biggest thing I ever won, but nothing compares to Austin,” Davis said. For Allen and Davis, the prize money was a new experience. They both took home $10,483, the biggest haul either has had from one rodeo. “It’s awesome, you go down the road to rodeo for a couple thousand, so

TOPS AT AUSTIN — March 16-30

BAREBACK RIDING 1. Caleb Bennett ........................ 87.5 pts. 2. Kaycee Feild ..................................... 87 3. Will Lowe ...................................... 86.5 4. Orin Larsen ...................................... 85

STEER WRESTLING 1. Scott Guenthner ..................... 3.6 sec. 2. (tie) Harley Cole .............................. 3.7 Ty Erickson ..................................... 3.7 4. Jace Melvin .................................... 3.8

TEAM ROPING 1. L. Allen/J. Davis ...................... 4.6 sec. 2. C. Snow/W. Thorp .......................... 4.9 3. P. Emmett/J. Day ............................ 6.7 4. C. Smidt/W. Woodfin ...................... 9.9

SADDLE BRONC RIDING 1. Stetson Wright ......................... 89 pts. 2. (tie) Cody DeMoss ........................... 87 Sterling Crawley .............................. 87 4. Layton Green ................................... 84

ProRodeo Sports News 4/5/2019

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