ProRodeo Sports News - September 16, 2022

FRONTIER DAYS WALLA WALLA, WASH.

Finishing Strong BY JOLEE JORDAN, Special to ProRodeo Sports News I n a matter of just a couple of weeks, Haven Meged will be back home in Miles City, Mont., working cows and riding horses. Though the ProRodeo regular season ends on Sept. 30, Meged will conclude his season following the Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up on September 17. The 2019 PRCAWorld Champion Tie-Down Roper can skip the final two crazy weeks of the season thanks to a solid position in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings, bolstered by a win over Labor Day weekend at Walla Walla (Wash.) Frontier Days, one of the final stops on the NFR Playoff Series presented by PendletonWhisky. TOP MONEY EARNER Haven Meged ($5,422, tie down roping). BAREBACK RIDING TOP SCORES Meged

Haven Meged nabs title in Walla Walla

After tying two calves in 17.3 seconds, Meged pocketed $5,422, landing third in the standings, and ensuring his fourth consecutive Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualification since earning the world championship in his rookie season. “I’m pretty much done,” Meged 24, noted from Puyallup, Washington where he was competing in the Cinch NFR Playoff. He finished second there behind world standings leader Shad Mayfield. “I’ve got Pendleton and then I’ll go home and work cows for a little bit.” In addition to helping at the Miles City Livestock Commission, which his family owns and operates, Meged also enjoys training horses in his time off the road. “After a break, I’ll head to Texas and hit the jackpots down there in the fall,” he said. “I’m training some young horses now. I’d like to do that full time.” Taking a young horse through the breaking and training process all the way up to being able to compete at the highest levels takes time and lots of patience from a trainer. “It takes forever,” Meged joked. Horsepower is key, though, in ProRodeo and particularly in Meged’s specialty, the tie-down roping. This summer, Meged has gone deeper into his own roster after his good mare Beyonce got hurt. “I’m riding a six-year-old we call Smoke,” he said. “He’s a horse I brought out this summer to try to season; it’s his first year out here.” The original plan was for Smoke to be a back-up to Beyonce. “She’s getting older, and I wanted to try to save the runs on her but then she got hurt at Cheyenne, so he’s been it,” Meged said. “He’s been my only horse for most of the summer and he stepped up for his age and the pressure I put on him.” InWalla Walla, Smoke and Meged broke the ice quickly, earning a third-place check in the first round with a run of 8.5 seconds. An 8.8-second effort in round two was out of the money but did clinch the average win. “I drew two good calves and I tried to not make any mistakes,” Meged said. It was one stop on an extremely busy weekend for the all-around hand, who made stops at several Montana Circuit rodeos as well as Ellensburg (Wash.) and Filer (Idaho), and threw in some team roping runs as well. With all the checks totaled up, Meged took home about $14,000 in both events over the long weekend.

1. Leighton Berry......................... 87 pts. (Tie) RC Landingham ..................... 87 3. Cole Franks.................................. 85.5 STEER WRESTLING 1. Timmy Sparing............... 8.0 sec. on 2 2. Bridger Anderson. ......................... 9.0 (Tie) Landris White........................ 9.0 TEAM ROPING 1. E. Rogers/P. Bray............ 9.3 sec. on 2 (Tie) K. Driggers/J. Nogueira......... 9.3 3. C. Tryan/J. Corkill. ......................... 9.7 SADDLE BRONC RIDING 1. Dawson Hay. ........................ 89.5 pts. 2. Stetson Wright. .............................. 87 3. Three tied at .................................. 86 TIE-DOWN ROPING 1. Haven Meged................ 17.3 sec. on 2 2. Macon Murphy. ........................... 17.6 3. Beau Cooper................................ 17.8 STEER ROPING 1. Bryce Davis . ............... 57.7 sec. on 4 2. Cody Lee .................................... 58.8 3. Reo Lohse . ................................ 72.6 BULL RIDING 1. Brody Yeary ........................... 87 pts. 2. Dawson Gleaves . .......................... 86 3. Derek Kolbaba . ............................. 85

PRCA ProRodeo photo by Roseanna Sales Tie-down roper Haven Meged, shown above competing at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, won the average at the Walla Walla (Wash.) Frontier Days Rodeo with a 17.3-second time on two head.

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