ProRodeo Sports News - November 17, 2023

of the Cinch Playoffs in Puyallup, Wash. He finished the season with $125,388 to land in the coveted No. 15 spot. Sanford, who is from Sulphur, La., competed on the McNeese State University rodeo team in Lake Charles, La., with Sonnier. T Parker, 19, made a late-season surge to qualify for the Wrangler NFR and finished eighth in the regular season standings and received a boost by winning the Ellensburg (Wash.) Rodeo. “This is going to be life-changing,” said Parker about getting to compete in Vegas. “It is a dream come true.” But Parker, who is from Winnie, Texas, acknowledged it wasn’t a smooth ride to get to the yellow bucking chutes in Vegas. “Toward the end of the season, there were a lot of long night drives and a lot of phone calls made and I was worried I wouldn’t make the NFR,” Parker said. “I had a lot of long talks with a lot of good people and that brought my spirits back up and I finished out the season strong and everything happened right. “I know the very first day at the NFR, I’m going to have nerves, but I think it will flow smooth after that. The best part of this year for me was meeting all the new people and going to all the states and just having fun riding bulls.”

Saddle bronc rider Ryder Sanford kept grinding away in the 2023 season, and thanks to big wins in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Puyallup, Wash., he made the 2023 NFR in the No. 15 spot. Kristen Schurr photo

Bareback rider Keenan Hayes proved his 2022

record setting PRCA

permit season was no fluke as he set the single season earnings mark in his event – before the Wrangler NFR – with a $265,896 total.

Hailey Rae photo

ProRodeo Sports News 11/17/2023

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