ProRodeo Sports News - January 19, 2024

WRANGLER NFR INJURY UPDATE

around in there.”

O’Connell placed second in Round 9 at the 2023 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo with his 86.5-point ride on Hi Lo Pro Rodeo’s Square Bale on Dec. 15 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. He also had an 86.5-point ride in Round 10 aboard Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Bill Fick Top Notch, but he didn’t place. “I was sore after Round 9 and I was extremely sore the day of Round 10 (Dec. 16),” O’Connell said. “After watching the Finals back and analyzing things in Round 10 my left leg didn’t really work at all. I went to the Chase Hawks (Rough Stock Rodeo, Dec. 23 in Billings, Mont.) and I was still sore, and my left leg really didn’t work. “I called (Dr.) Tandy (Freeman) on Christmas Eve and he talked to Dr. (William C.) Meyers, and I went and had an MRI and it showed it was the rest of the way off. I tough-guyed it through the (2023 season), but I really had to baby that leg through the year. I knew how to get it better, but I had to baby it.” O’Connell, a 10-time Wrangler NFR qualifier (2014-23), finished ninth in last year’s PRCA | RAM World Standings with $214,891. He earned $55,564 at the NFR, placing in two rounds. “The timetable to be completely (healthy) would be coming back the first week of April,” O’Connell said. “My timetable is to be at the last

set of Houston (March 11), which would be about nine weeks and four days post-op. But I’m going to be smart with this thing as well because I’m not going to damage something because of my selfish goals.” O’Connell, who has also won three NFR average titles from 2016-18, still has the passion to compete. “I have just had compounding injuries over the last few years,” O’Connell said. “But I still love what I do and I’m very competitive at what I do.” CHASE BROOKS OUT WITH HAMSTRING INJURY Saddle bronc rider Chase Brooks, who has qualified for six consecutive Wrangler National Finals Rodeos, is going to be sidelined for several weeks with a left hamstring strain. “I pulled my hamstring in three places,” said Brooks, 29. “I’m looking at about an eight-to-12-week recovery. I had a horse (Frontier Rodeo’s Lil Sugar) in Round 9 (Dec. 15 at the NFR) that came around and my left leg got hung up. It was just a tear where the tendon and muscle meet.” Brooks had a 76.5-point ride in Round 9, but the injury forced him to miss Round 10. “Luckily I didn’t have to have surgery, just rehab,” Brooks said. “I started

Three-time champ Tim O’Connell out with groin injury Sidelined BY TRACY RENCK at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver. “After Denver, I gutted it out throughout the year, but at the NFR PRCA ProRodeo photo by Hailey Rae Three-time PRCA World Champion Tim O’Connell fought to the finish at the 2023 Wrangler NFR. In Round 7, O’Connell put together an 87-point ride on Big Stone Rodeo Inc.’s Mayhem.

PRCA ProRodeo photo by Click Thompson Chase Brooks finished tied for fourth in Round 1 of Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, after his 85-point trip on Flying U Rodeo’s Get Down. Brooks had to miss Round 10 after suffering a hamstring injury.

rehabbing as soon as I got home (to Brock, Texas) from the Finals.” Brooks finished 12th in the 2023 PRCA | RAM World Standings with $175,800. He earned $36,579 in Las Vegas, placing in three rounds. Brooks finished a career-best fourth in the world standings in 2021. “I’m hoping to come back for San Antone,” Brooks said. The San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo runs from Feb. 8-14, and 19-24. “I have never had hamstring issues before in my career,” Brooks said. “I wasn’t sore there, and it must have just hung it just right. It was one of those perfect storms. “The hardest part of my rehab is making sure I’m not overdoing it and re-injure my hamstring. At this point, I kind of know the drill and injuries are just part of it (rodeo). God has a plan for everything, and you just trust his plan and roll with it.” Brooks said his partner in rehab is he and his fiancée Cara’s 18-month old daughter CJ.

I njuries are part of the ProRodeo game – which three-time PRCA World Champion Bareback Rider Tim O’Connell knows all too well. O’Connell, who won consecutive world championships from 2016-18, is recovering from a tear in his left groin. O’Connell said he initially suffered the groin injury in January of 2023

it tore the rest of the way off, and I’m pretty sure that happened in Round 9,” said O’Connell, 32. “I had surgery (Jan. 4) in Philadelphia with Dr. (William C. Meyers), and the surgery was successful. Turns out I had a lot of bone fragments floating around there as well. So, they ended up cleaning out my pelvis and they took five or six pieces of bone that were floating

ProRodeo Sports News 1/19/2024

ProRodeo Sports News 1/19/2024

ProRodeo.com

ProRodeo.com

38

39