Things are tight at the top on the Header side of Team Roping with Nelson Wyatt clinging to the No. 1 spot in the PRCA World Standings by just $6,000 over Dustin Egusquiza. The Top 5 in the world are all within $20,000 of first place.
Here is a look at some of the top competitors and how their seasons have gone to date.
No. 1 Nelson Wyatt, $116,473
Nelson Wyatt is putting together the best season of his career, which began back in 2018. He finished No. 4 in the world in 2020 earning over $166,000 on the season. Wyatt, who currently holds a $6,000 lead in the PRCA World Standings found recent success at the Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo where he earned over $7,000 after finishing second in the Average. Wyatt and his partner Chase Tryan took the second round of the rodeo with a 4.0-second run and were 8.9 seconds on two. Wyatt’s biggest win of the season came at RodeoHouston where he and partner Justin Davis placed second in the Championship Shootout with a 9.9-second run.
No. 3 Kaleb Driggers, $109,686
Kaleb Driggers and partner Junior Nogueira are coming off one of the best team roping seasons we have ever seen and are setting themselves up nicely to defend their Gold Buckles. It had been a relatively slow month of July for Driggers and Nogueira until the Calgary Stampede Team Roping where they took the opening round with a 5.1-second run. A week later, the pair would place third in the average at the Snake River Stampede where they earned over $5,000 on the weekend. In Cheyenne the two showed out in the Finals, placing second and bringing their total earnings from the week to over $10,000.
No. 10 Clay Smith, $66,566
Clay Smith has been a mainstay inside the Top 5 in the PRCA World Standings, finishing no worse than No. 5 from 2016 to 2021, a span that included two Gold Buckles. Now, after finishing No. 14 last year, Smith is looking to get back to his winning ways. He currently sits No. 10 in the world with just over $66,500 earned. Smith has been climbing the standings since the month turned to July, earning checks of over $1,200 eight times. The first came at the Cody Stampede where he and his partner Coleby Payne took sixth to earn over $3,000. He would follow that up with a third-place finish at the Black Hills Roundup to earn another $3,000. The second best check of the month for the pair came at the Killdeer Mountain Roundup PRCA Rodeo where they went 4.0 seconds to get the win and earn over $4,300. A week later the pair would get their biggest payday at the Snake River Stampede where they won the Final Round with a 3.7-second run and placed first in the average. In total they earned over $10,000 at the rodeo.
| 1. | Nelson Wyatt | $116,473 |
| 2. | Dustin Egusquiza | $110,791 |
| 3. | Kaleb Driggers | $109,686 |
| 4. | Rhen Richard | $108,638 |
| 5. | Andrew Ward | $95,104 |
| 6. | Tanner Tomlinson | $84,922 |
| 7. | Erich Rogers | $77,824 |
| 8. | Cody Snow | $69,144 |
| 9. | Brenten Hall | $69,008 |
| 10. | Clay Smith | $66,566 |
| 11. | Coleman Proctor | $63,476 |
| 12. | Dawson Graham | $61,961 |
| 13. | Derrick Begay | $60,480 |
| 14. | Jr. Dees | $59,959 |
| 15. | Marcus Theriot | $58,898 |
| 16. | Jake Clay | $58,529 |
| 17. | J.C. Yeahquo | $56,238 |
| 18. | Tyler Wade | $55,595 |
| 19. | Luke Brown | $55,208 |
| 20. | Keven Daniel | $53,554 |
Standings via ProRodeo.Com are accurate as of 8 AM ET on Friday, Aug. 4.