BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN
On the head side of the team roping there are two cowboys within $3,000 of the final Wrangler NFR spot and there are a handful of others still within striking distance.
Riley Minor is currently the No. 15 man in the world, but he is only about $1,200 behind Luke Brown for the No. 14 spot in the PRCA Team Roping (Header) World Standings. Both of those cowboys have been moving the wrong direction in the standings over the last four weeks.
Minor was No. 11 on Aug. 23 and has since won about $5,000, which hasn’t been enough to keep pace with cowboys like Rhen Richard, Quinn Kessler and Cody Snow.
Brown has dropped one spot since the end of August, going from No. 13 to No. 14.
Both of these headers know what it takes to make the Wrangler NFR, however, Minor has been 10 times and Brown has been 13.
Hot on the heels of both Minor and Brown are two other guys with a ton of NFR experience themselves. Coleman Proctor, a five-time qualifier, is up to No. 16 in the World Standings after spending the last six weeks bouncing in and out of the Top 20. Last weekend, he and his partner Logan Medlin placed in Albuquerque, St. George (Utah) and Pendleton to earn $8,697 in four days.
Proctor is now about $1,100 behind Minor, but has an uphill battle as he did not have enough points to qualify for the ProRodeo Tour Finale from Sept. 23-26 in Salinas. He did finish just one spot out, in 25th, so there is still a chance he could compete in Salinas.
About $3,000 behind Minor is 17th-place Chad Masters, a cowboy with 14 NFR qualifications and two Gold Buckles. Masters and his partner Joseph Harrison cashed a $4,110 check by winning Lewiston (Idaho) on Sept. 11 and last weekend, the pair earned $8,455 in Pendleton, a majority of which coming from placing second in the Average.
Medlin and Harrison could both find themselves needing new partners in December as they are No. 12 and 13 respectively in the PRCA Team Roping (Heeler) World Standings.
There are five other cowboys who are have a chance to snag an NFR spot, but it will take a big effort over the final week of the season. That group includes No. 18 Hayes Smith ($53,980), No. 19 Tate Kirchenschlager ($52,852), No. 20 Kellan Johnson ($52,332), No. 21 Coy Rahlmann ($52,320) and No. 22 Aaron Tsinigine ($52,207).
RELATED:
Pendleton Round-Up 2021: Highlights, recap and payouts
PRCA World Standings heading into this weekend’s ProRodeo Tour Finale
