ProRodeo Sports News - Dec. 20, 2024

BULL RIDING AVERAGE WINNER

Josh Frost won the NFR Average title for the second time in his career, thanks to placing in seven rounds and winning two. PRCA ProRodeo photo by Hailey Rae

Double Dipping

Frost adds average title to gold buckle

BY ALEX DODD J osh Frost has been on both ends of the spectrum at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo presented by Teton Ridge. When he first qualified in 2019, things didn’t go so hot and he bucked off on all 10 of his trips out of the yellow bucking chutes. In his next three qualifications from 2021-23, Frost performed well and even won the average in 2021 – but he came up just short as the bull riding runner-up. Frost did everything right in his latest NFR appearance from Dec. 5-14, winning his first PRCA World Championship and covering seven bulls to win his second average title. “It’s been a lot of hard work. You’re trying to make your weaknesses your strengths,” Frost said of his journey from 2019 to winning the average. “At the first NFR, we had a lot of rough luck and didn’t get a bull rode. Since then, I’ve been riding at over a 50 percent clip here, and this is the third time I’ve rode seven of ten bulls. Now it’s the second time I’ve won the average.” Frost finished the NFR with 580 points on seven head and was the only bull rider to cover at least five bulls. He tallied $265,824 in Las Vegas – $55,519 more than the next closest competitor. “We’ve been really dialing in and showing up with the game plan and saying, ‘What do I have to do to ride this bull?,’” Frost said after clinching the average in Round 9. “It’s been working.. It feels good knowing all the hard

work has paid off.” Frost placed in six rounds and earned wins in Round 4 and Round 6. In the fourth, he earned $37,219 with an 86.5-point ride on Sutton Rodeo’s Once Chance. He added $33,687 in the sixth with a 90-point trip on Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Bill Fick Surprised. Frost opened the Finals with an 86-point ride to share second and third in Round 1 and returned in Round 2 with an 81.5-point trip to place fourth. He placed third in Round 5 between his two top finishes at 82.5 points. He placed fifth in Round 7 to secure the average buckle. Frost said the key to winning the average was simple. But when he tore his rotator cuff and labrum in his left shoulder during the Pendleton Whisky Xtreme Bulls Finale in early September in Pendleton, Ore., his chances to win the world, much less the average, looked bleak. “Ride more bulls than the other guys. It’s as simple as that,” Frost said. “We were taking it one bull at a time. I was trying to make the most out of each bull we had. I did a lot of work and preparation to come in here, getting ready and getting my body strong. And it paid off.” Frost savored the moment when his average title propelled him to his first world title after Round 10. “This is the best place in the world to ride bulls,” Frost said of the NFR. “You’re competing against fifteen of the best guys, but there’s only fifteen of you. You’re running at $108,000 per night and splitting it six ways, and it’s the place you want to be.”

ProRodeo Sports News 12/20/2024

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