ProRodeo Sports News - November 16, 2018

DECEMBER 6-15 LAS VEGAS

Jacobs Crawley claims season leader for third year Hat Trick

BY MATT NABER F or the third year in a row, saddle bronc rider Jacobs Crawley ended the regular season at the top of the world standings. Competing year-round has taken the 2015 world champion to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo for the last eight years. It also kept him and younger brother, Sterling, in the Top 15 the entire season, joining Brody Cress andWade Sundell as the only four to do that in 2018. “I rodeo for a living so this is what I do,” Jacobs Crawley said. “I treat it like a job, and it’s a job that I love to do. We don’t take an offseason. We love riding bucking horses and going to rodeos, so this is why we get excited about the weekends. We want to ride in a new town and try to make a great bronc ride and win money.” The Texas brothers will compete together at the Wrangler NFR for the fifth time. Jacobs enters theThomas &Mack Center after earning $168,101 while winning 17 rodeos this season. “We got an early start and never let off,” Sterling Crawley said. “It’s hard

to not go to a rodeo on the weekend when it’s what we’ve been doing all these years. You go and make money, but we really love riding bucking horses, so when there’s an opportunity to do it, it’s hard to pass up.” Sterling Crawley finished the regular season ranked 10th with $98,748. “It’s special every year because we work at it together all year, every year,” Jacobs Crawley said. “There have been some years where one of us isn’t there, and those aren’t as much fun. So, what’s good for the bee is good for the hive.” It wasn’t all smooth sailing in 2018. For the first time in his 12 years of PRCA competition, Jacobs Crawley had multiple equipment changes that added a trial-and-error factor. Up until March, he’d used the same saddle for five years. “I was playing ‘Musical Saddles,’” Jacobs Crawley laughed. Despite the bump in the road, Jacobs Crawley ranks first in the Texas Circuit for saddle bronc riding with $44,789 and was ninth in the PRCA | Wrangler ProRodeo Tour Standings with 545 points before the Justin Finale. But the most difficult race was the overall world standings, he said. “It starts Oct. 1 and goes to the end of September, and the toughest part about it is staying healthy,” Crawley said.

His goal was made easier when he raked in $25,765 in San Antonio. “It meant more to me because that’s pretty much my hometown rodeo and my family was all there,” Jacobs Crawley said. “It was really cool to win that rodeo because in this area it’s a big deal.” Although 2018 marked his first San Antonio win, he’s no stranger to success during the regular season. Jacobs Crawley was the 2016 saddle bronc riding regular-season-standings leader with $172,304 and again in 2017 with $187,052. “It’s not a bad position to be in,” Jacobs Crawley said. “I’ve been fortunate in staying healthy, that’s a key part of it. And that’s my goal for the regular season, to stay toward the top.”

Now he’s entering the Wrangler NFR with a $3,023 lead over reigning world champion Ryder Wright. “It’s neat to win the regular season and go in leading it because I set it as a goal,” Jacobs Crawley said. “But it’s a small part, because everyone’s goal is the gold buckle, and none of it will be decided until the NFR.”

ProRodeo Sports News 11/16/2018

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