ProRodeo Sports News - Dec. 20, 2024

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

Opening with a Bang SAN ANTONIO STOCK SHOW STEER ROPING

Snedecor wins big at first Playoff Series steer roping BY ALEX DODD T he San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo hosted 50 of the best steer ropers in the world for the discipline’s first-ever Playoff Series event on Nov. 22 in Uvalde, Texas. And the event lived up to its billing. Scott Snedecor took advantage of the opportunity to get a jump on the 2025 season after winning the average at the National Finals Steer Roping three weeks earlier. The four-time PRCA Steer Roping World Champion won the average at 33.9 seconds on three head. “It was a really tough set of steer ropers,” Snedecor said. “Anytime you get the top fifty in the world together, it’s going to be anybody’s game. You’ve got to be on your toes and draw well. And your horse has to work well.” Snedecor bested Tanner Stec (35.7 on three head) by less than two seconds, and Ryan Rochlitz finished third at 38.6 seconds on three head. Snedecor finished outside the money in the opening round at 13.2 seconds but stayed in the average hunt. In Round 2, he bounced back with a 10.7-second run to finish fourth and pick up $2,924. Snedecor capped the performance with a 10-second run in the final round to finish sixth, add $1,671 and capture the average title. “It played in my favor, I guess,” Snedecor said. “In the first round, I had one that was pretty stout running down there and didn’t place in the round. Then I came back and went fourth in the next round with a good steer that I ran at the (National Finals Steer Roping earlier in November). “Then my last steer was so, so. I wasn’t expecting to come out with the win when I ran that steer…I kept him on the left-hand side, and he laid there and took it for me. So it ended up going in my direction.” The win at the Uvalde County Fairplex made Snedecor a perfect two for-two with a pair of top finishes to open the new season. “Anytime you can go to the wintertime rodeos and get a good lick in, it’s pretty good,” Snedecor said. “That’s only the second rodeo I’ve been to this year. The first was the (RAM) Texas Circuit Finals Rodeo, and I won it. So I won a little bit more than I did at the Texas Circuit here at San Antonio.” The win meant more to Snedecor because it was essentially his hometown rodeo. The Fredericksburg, Texas, cowboy lived in Uvalde for over a decade, operating a business and attending Southwest Texas Junior College in his wife Kelli Snedecor’s hometown. “To win that deal, it’s almost like my hometown rodeo,” Snedecor said. “We lived here and had a Western store here in town for 10 or 11 years. I went to college here. My wife is from Uvalde, born and raised. So it was like a hometown rodeo for us.” Snedecor doesn’t take any days off. He spends most of his time training horses. But his horse will get a break until he returns to competition at the Sandhills Stock Show & Rodeo in early January in Odessa, Texas.

PRCA ProRodeo photo by Ryan Jae Scott Snedecor acknowledges the crowd at the Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane after winning the average at the National Finals Steer Roping Nov. 2. Snedecor kept his momentum going by winning the San Antonio Stock & Rodeo Steer Roping in Uvalde, Texas, Nov. 22.

Complete results/Page 84

ProRodeo Sports News 12/20/2024

ProRodeo Sports News 12/20/2024

ProRodeo.com

ProRodeo.com

88

89