ProRodeo Sports News - Sept. 30, 2022

STEPHENVILLE, TEXAS

COWBOY CAPITAL OF THE WORLD RODEO Win has Chet Herren ready for NFSR battle Getting in Tune BY JOLEE JORDAN, Special to ProRodeo Sports News T he 2022 ProRodeo regular season has come to end and for steer roper Chet Herren, now the work begins. Herren closed out his season on a high note, capturing his first win at the Cowboy Capital of the World PRCA Rodeo in Stephenville, Texas on

TOP SCORES

TOP MONEY EARNER Ernie Courson Jr. ($5,986, bull riding) BAREBACK RIDING

Sept. 22. Herren tied three steers up in 34.1 seconds to earn $2,748. “I just got lucky,” Herren, 42, said with a laugh. The earnings locked Herren in at 10th in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings. While luck does play its role in the sport, Herren’s upcoming appearance in his 17th National Finals Steer Roping decries the idea that luck alone has graced his career. “I think about it once in a while,” Herren said. With over $1 million in career earnings, he was the reserve world champion in 2014 and won the average at the NFSR in 2002. “I try not to live in the past, but I think about all the years, all the help I’ve gotten along the way from a lot of different people. I’ve been blessed.” “Hopefully, it’s not over,” he added with a chuckle. Judging by his performance in Stephenville, it’s apparent Herren still has plenty left in the tank. He entered the event figuring he was safe in the standings for another NFSR berth but decided to get aggressive in the first round anyway to close the door. “I thought I was safe, I wasn’t really concerned about that, but we always want to win more money. It eases the mind some,” he said. Herren took care of business right away in Stephenville, stopping the clock in round one with a 10.6 second run, good enough for third. “I knew the first steer, thought he was a good one, but they hadn’t tied him down real fast,” Herren explained. “I figured I better get what I could right away, go after that round money.” Stephenville was the final stop on a month-long trip for Herren that took him through Deadwood, South Dakota and the Northwest rodeos before ending in Texas. “I sent Whitey on the road at the end of August,” Herren said of his 16-year-old grey horse. He flew to meet his hauling group and stayed gone through Pendleton and the last rodeos in Texas before returning home to Pawhuska, Oklahoma. “He’s all I rode since then since I didn’t come home,” Herren said, noting he also has a sorrel that he used at the 2021 NFSR, where he finished second in the average after earning $44,705. “He worked pretty good.” Whitey shares jobs with both Herren and his 10-year-old son, Baylor. “He ropes on him, we’re still working on it,” Herren said. When accused of stealing his kid’s horse for a month, he clarifies with a laugh, “I had to borrow my boy’s horse.” With 2022 in the books, Herren will kick off the 2023 campaign right away with rodeos in Hempstead and Bellville as well as the Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo in October. He’ll take advantage of steer ropings at regional rodeos around home to work on some young horses and spend a little extra time in the practice pen. “When you come home, off the road when you’ve been gone like that to the Northwest, you don’t feel like you’ve been working hard enough,” Herren said. “So, I’ve got to get to crunching. I’ll probably tie more down in the next month or two then I would in any other month of the year, as long as my horses stay sound and healthy.” That desire to get into the practice pen despite a nearly two-decade run at the top of the sport is what keeps Herren winning. “My boy is into sports too and I’ve tried to show him, anything competitive, you’ve got to put in the time if you want to be successful.” Retirement hasn’t crossed Herren’s mind at this point. “The money is getting better in steer roping and I still love rodeoing, still love going down the road,” he said. “I’m down here practicing right now—when it gets to where it’s no fun, that’s when I’ll be done.

Courson

1. Cole Franks ............................ 88 pts. 2. Leighton Berry .............................. 85 3. Dean Thompson . ....................... 84.5 STEER WRESTLING 1. Tyler Waguespack ................. 3.5 sec. 2. Hunter Cure ................................. 3.6 3. Five tied at ................................... 3.7 TEAM ROPING 1. J.C. Yeahquo/L.J. Yeahquo ... 4.0 sec. 2. T. Green/W. Woodard ................... 4.2 (Tie) T. James/J. Johe .................. 4.2 SADDLE BRONC RIDING 1. Brody Cress ........................ 88.5 pts. 2. Tegan Smith .................................. 86 3. Parker Fleet ................................ 84.5 (Tie) Wade Sundell . .................... 84.5 TIE-DOWN ROPING 1. Cory Solomon ....................... 7.6 sec. (Tie) Chet Weitz ............................ 7.6 3. Tyson Durfey . .............................. 7.7 BARREL RACING 1. Wenda Johnson ................ 14.94 sec. 2. Paige Jones ............................. 14.97 3. Lisa Lockhart ........................... 15.02 STEER ROPING 1. Chet Herren . ............... 34.1 sec. on 3 2. Scott Snedecor .......................... 37.5 3. Kim Ziegelgruber ....................... 38.6 BULL RIDING 1. Ernie Courson Jr. ................ 83.5 pts. No Other Qualified Rides

Complete results/Page 55

William Kierce photo Veteran steer roper Chet Herren won the Cowboy Capital of the World Rodeo in Stephenville, Texas, with a 34.1-second time on three head.

ProRodeo Sports News 9/30/2022

ProRodeo Sports News 9/30/2022

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