ProRodeo Sports News - September 20, 2019

Ultimate week of PRCA season can decide Top 15

BY TRACY RENCK S addle bronc rider Chase Brooks tried not to look. As the 2018 season stretched into September, the last month of the season weighed on his mind every day, but he avoided checking the standings. Being outside the Top 15 in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings, Brooks knew it was pointless to look. His goal over those final 30 days was to go as hard as possible and see what happened when September became October and qualifications were finalized for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. “It was so stressful,” Brooks said. “You’re trying not to worry about the standings and just go do it, but it was always there in the back of my head that I needed to start doing well. I think I went the whole month of September without winning a check until the very last weekend.” Brooks wound up finishing 15th with $76,141, edging J.J. Elshere by $367 and qualifying for his first Wrangler NFR. Brooks broke the bubble by moving from 17th to 15th in the final weekend. He earned $2,350 at the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Premier Rodeo and $2,681 at the Corn Palace Challenge in Mitchell, S.D., to hold off Elshere for the final spot. ON THE CUSP

Matt Cohen photo Rookie tie-down roper Shad Mayfield acknowledges the crowd at the Reno (Nev.) Rodeo in June. Mayfield is in a tight race to try and qualify for the Wrangler NFR, and the final week of the season will likely decide if the Clovis, N.M., cowboy will make it.

at the American Royal in Kansas City, Mo. At season’s close, Campbell had climbed to 14th with $88,063. He also clinched the 2017 PRCA | Resistol Bull Riding Rookie of the Year honor by qualifying for Vegas. “I was sitting 16th in the standings, and my last three rodeos were New Braunfels (Texas), Kansas City and Mona (Utah),” said Campbell, 21. “They canceled in New Braunfels (because of weather), and I got called back at Sioux Falls, so I went to Sioux Falls over Mona. It was a lot of pressure and not something I would want anybody to have to be in. But when it came down to it, it was about riding bulls like I did the whole year. “I wasn’t going to change my riding because it was the end of the season. I thought I was going to Mona, Utah, and I rode in Kansas City, Mo., and then they called me and told me I was in at Sioux Falls, so I bought a flight from Kansas City to Sioux Falls. It was very rewarding to ride like I did in Sioux Falls, and it was a relief to make the NFR.” Rookie tie-down roper Shad Mayfield, meanwhile, is in the bubble mix this season. The Clovis, N.M., cowboy was 15th in the Sept. 16 world standings with $79,758. He was $2,672 ahead of No. 16 John Douch. “I’m not going to change anything,” said Mayfield, 18. “I just want to go through the fundamentals and get them tied down and make no mistakes and let the rest come. I’m glad to be in this position and have this opportunity, but being right there brings a lot of pressure. It shows what you’re made of being right there, and the person who stays the toughest will get in because this is when it gets hard.” If Mayfield remains on the bubble the last week of the season, he will compete at the Poway (Calif.) Rodeo and the Sheriff ’s PRCA Rodeo in San Bernardino, Calif., both the final weekend of the season. “I’m hoping to get enough won so I won’t have to worry about going out to California,” Mayfield said. “I’m just trying to make every run count.”

“It didn’t change how I was riding,” said Brooks, who is in a more secure position this season. “I didn’t look at the (world) standings until Mitchell was done. I tallied it up and I was in it, but there was one more rodeo in San Bernardino (Calif.). Spencer Wright also was right there in the running with us (for the 15th spot), and he won San Bernardino. I thought he bumped me out, and then I found out Spencer was out of rodeos, so his win in San Bernardino didn’t count. Everything just barely worked out perfectly for me. It was crazy.” Making the Wrangler NFR is simple: cowboys must finish in the Top 15 when the regular season ends Sept. 30. The 2019Wrangler NFR is in Las Vegas at theThomas &Mack Center, Dec. 5-14. As of Sept. 16, Brooks was seventh in the 2019 world standings with $112,533. Like Brooks, steer wrestler Tanner Milan knows all about the balancing act of getting in the Top 15. He’s qualified for the Wrangler NFR twice – 2015 and 2017 – finishing sixth and eighth, respectively, in the world standings. But a year ago, Milan dealt with the heartbreak of finishing 16th. He earned $72,957 – $1,749 behind 15th-place Nick Guy. This season, Milan was again battling to break into the Top 15, sitting 18th as of Sept. 16 with $67,471, about $5,000 away from the 15th spot. “I don’t necessarily like it (being on the bubble),” Milan said. “But it is what it is, and I just have to keep rolling with it.” FURIOUS FINISH Boudreaux Campbell is headed to his third consecutive Wrangler NFR in 2019, as he was sixth in the bull riding standings. The first time Campbell qualified for the Finals was a hectic experience The Crockett, Texas, cowboy was sitting 16th in the world standings on Sept. 25, 2017. But on Sept. 30, the final day of the regular season, he earned $2,610 at the Wrangler Champions Challenge Finale in Sioux Falls, S.D., and $2,672

ProRodeo Sports News 9/20/2019

ProRodeo.com

51