ProRodeo Sports News - Feb. 21, 2020

Reeves takes steer wrestling title at San Angelo rodeo Strong Arm BY MATT NABER I t wasn’t until the end of July that steer wrestler Matt Reeves broke into the Top 15 of the 2019 PRCA | RAMWorld Standings. The start to the 2020 season is panning out to be a complete 180 for the Texas cowboy after winning $22,405 in a single week, including taking home $9,765 by winning the San Angelo (Texas) Rodeo for the first time. BAREBACK RIDING 1. Clayton Biglow ............. 173 pts. on 2 2. (Tie) Richmond Champion ....... 171.5 Leighton Berry ............................. 171.5 STEER WRESTLING 1. Matt Reeves ................ 12.4 sec. on 3 2. Cade Staton ............................... 14.3 3. Tanner Brunner .......................... 14.5 TEAM ROPING TOP SCORES

“Winter is a funny thing, it doesn’t break you but it sure can make life easier,” Reeves said. “I’ve gone through the winter and not won anything but then I got to where I wanted to be.” Reeves’ biggest check of the 2019 season was $7,250 from RodeoHouston. Halfway through February he’s topped that payday three times. On Jan. 4, he won the RAMTexas Circuit Finals Rodeo for $7,453. On Feb. 8, he earned $12,640 at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. And Feb. 14 brought in nearly $10,000 from San Angelo. “I need to keep it going,” Reeves said. “In the next month you can stack enough up to make your life easier in the summer. And it’s good for (ProRodeo Tour) points too.” Fresh off winning the average at his seventhWrangler National Finals Rodeo and having his horse Do Get Famous “Rattle” named the 2019 Steer Wrestling Purina Horse of the Year presented by AQHA, the 41-year-old cowboy kept the ball rolling into the 2020 season. “Everyone keeps talking about how I’m the old guy going full time, but the horses are that good and it’s fun and there’s family there,” Reeves said. “That mare (Rattle) is just different. … I just am able to do so much more on her.” Reeves won San Angelo with a split for first in Round 2 on a 3.9-second run and won the final round outright in 3.7 seconds to claim the average in 12.4 seconds on three head. “I had never won it before, so I was super excited,” Reeves said. “And it’s a family deal with my father-in-law (SamKoenig) hazing.” Koenig was Reeves’ hazer when they rodeoed together early in Reeves’ career and Koenig hazed for Reeves at the Wrangler NFR in 2009 and 2010. “It’s a comfort to have him there,” Reeves said. Koenig also hazed for Ty Erickson and Josh Clark in San Angelo, who placed fifth and sixth in the average, respectively. “You have to start somewhere, and that gives me a big boost in the circuit and in the world standings,” Reeves said. “So just keep knocking them down and do your job to get back to Vegas and get higher to where you have a chance at the big deal (the world title). That’s the one big thing I have left.” Reeves’ San Angelo win pushed him from fifth to third in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings with $23,580. “That’s a whole lot more than what I had at this time last year,” Reeves said. San Angelo is a hometown rodeo of sorts for Reeves since it’s 100 miles from his home in Cross Plains, making this win a special one for the 17-year ProRodeo veteran. “I’d done well there before but never won it,” Reeves said. “San Angelo has an old-school feel to it. It’s not the brand-new Dickies Arena, but it has a ton of energy and it’s fun to win. It’s been 20-some years since I was a kid watching it, and it’s fun to get a win like that in the winter.”

1. A. Tsinigine/K. Lockett. 13.7 sec. on 3 2. K. Schmidt/H. Koch ................... 15.3 3. C. Smothers/B. Gonzales ........... 15.4 SADDLE BRONC RIDING 1. Zeke Thurston .............. 176 pts. on 2 2. Allen Boore .............................. 172.5 3. Rusty Wright . ............................. 171 TIE-DOWN ROPING 1. Bryson Sechrist .......... 24.8 sec. on 3 2. (Tie) Caleb Smidt ....................... 25.1 Cooper Martin ................................ 25.1 BARREL RACING 1. B. Pozzi Tonozzi ........ 44.15 sec. on 3 2. Wenda Johnson ....................... 44.63 3. Emily Efurd .............................. 44.76 BULL RIDING 1. Tim Bingham ............ 160.5 pts. on 2 2. Stetson Wright ...................... 89 on 1 3. Bayle Worden ............................ 88.5

Complete results/Page 58

IN BRIEF $525,192

Combined prize money awarded at the San Angelo Rodeo and the San Angelo Cinch Chute-Out Rodeo. 3.5 SECONDS Team ropers Jaxson Tucker and Jake Clay tied the San Angelo Rodeo record with a 3.5-second run in Round 2.

ProRodeo Sports News 2/21/2020

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