More than half the athletes have competed in the qualifying at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo.
This year, the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo will feature a tournament-style format featuring 80 contestants per event – bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping (heading and heeling), saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, barrel racing and bull riding
Each contestant will compete in the first two rounds, competing in back-to-back performances/sets, with round 1 being the first performance of a set and round 2 being the second performance of a set. The top 24 in the average will advance to the semifinals.
The semifinals have three brackets (performances) taking place on Saturday, Jan. 25, where each athlete will begin with a clean slate of times/scores. The top four athletes in each event from the semifinals brackets will advance to the finals on Sunday, Jan. 26.
The contestants in the finals will again start with a clean slate of times/scores. The highest-scored ride or fastest time in the championship round will be crowned champion.
So far, there have been five qualifying performances/sets, meaning about 50 athletes have competed in each event.
Bareback Riding
Three-time world champion Tim O’Connell is in first place in bareback riding after receiving the top score in both rounds so far.
In his first round, which was Saturday afternoon, he rode Bailey Pro Rodeo’s Black Sunday for 88 points. In his second round ride, he scored an 87.5.
With a total qualifying score of 175.5, O’Connell is in first place by seven points, Garrett Shadbolt is second. 2019 Wrangler NFR Qualifier Richmond Champion is in third with 167.5, Spur Lacasse is behind Champion at 167 and Chad Rutherford and Chance Ames are tied for fifth with scores of 166.5 each. Those were the only qualified rides as no cowboys from the fifth set had two qualified rides.
Saddle Bronc Riding
Leon Fountain made a move in the Saddle Bronc Riding in fifth set.
In his first round, which was on Monday, he scored an 85.5 on Cervi Championship Rodeo’s The Edge. That is the top first round score of the rodeo so far. Fountain is in second place with a score of of 166.5, two points behind the leader Kobyn Williams.
Ryder Wright is in third and has the top ride of the rodeo so far. He scored 88 on The Cervi Brothers’ Tank in his second round, which was Saturday night. He has 166 points total.
Chet Johnson is currently in fourth with a score of 163.5, Ty Manke made a move into fifth on with 160 thanks to an 86-point ride Tuesday night.
Rusty Wright and CoBurn Bradshaw are tied for sixth at 159 and Ben Andersen is in 7th after he scored 158 in his two qualifying rides. Those were the only qualified rides.
Barrel Racing
The Barrel Racing leaderboard remained unchanged after the fifth set, Tillar Murray is still in first place and has the fastest first-round time of the rodeo.
She had a ride of 14.97 seconds her first round, which was Friday evening. She followed that up with a second-round time of 15.00 on Saturday morning.
Jimmie Smith’s total qualifying time was 30.20, just behind Murray’s 29.97. Ivy Hurst, who has the second best first round ride so far at 15.03 seconds, is in third with a total time of 30.34, Tiany Schuster and Jill Tanner are in fourth at a time of 30.73 each and Karson Bradley is sixth with 30.74. Those with the only qualified times.
Bull Riding
Like Barrel Racing, there was also no change in the bull riding leaderboard, despite some good scores in the fifth set.
On Tuesday night, Tyler Bingham scored an 89.5 in his second round and Hawk Whitt rode his way to an 87.5 however, neither had a qualifying ride in their first round.
Toby Collins is still in first place after he totaled 174 points in his two rides.
Collins has the only 90-point ride of the rodeo and it came on Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Rawhide in the second round.
Clayton Sellars, who is in second overall, has the second best time of the second round so far with an 86-point ride. Sellars has 171 points, placing him and Collins well ahead of the rest of the field.
Shad Winn has 158 points and is in third, Coy Pollmeier is in fourth with 157.5, Cordell Curtis is fifth with 154 and Boudreaux Campbell is sixth with 143 points. Those were the only qualified rides.
Steer Wrestling
There has not been a lot of movement in the steer wrestling standings as the top three remain the same after the fifth set. Jace Melvin is holding onto first place with an aggregate time of 8.2 seconds on two head.
In second is Jacob Edler with a total time of 8.8 seconds. Stetson Jorgensen remains in third place with an aggregate time of 9.2 seconds. Cade Goodman is new to the leaderboard and in fourth place after putting up a total time of 9.3 seconds on two head. Goodman sits atop the world standing early in the 2020 season with earnings just over $8,000.
Laine Herl and Dirk Tavenner are in a tie for fifth place with a time of 9.9 seconds. Those were the only qualified runs so far.
Team Roping
After the second performance of the fifth set there was a new Team Roping tandem atop the standings. Kade Smith and Levi Tyan are now in first place with an aggregate time of 9.7 seconds on two head.
There is a tie for second between Cody Snow/Paul Eaves tied with Brenten Hall/Chase Tryan. Both teams put up an aggregate time of 10.3 seconds.
New to the leaderboard and in fourth place is Coy Rahlmann and Ryan Von Ahn with a time of 10.4 seconds. The pair has the fifth-best Round 1 time and the fourth-best Round 2 time so far.
Clay Tryan and Jake Long have an aggregate time of 10.5 seconds, good enough for fifth place. Charley Crawford and Logan Medlin have the final qualifying ride and sit in sixth place after putting up a total time of 10.6 seconds. Those were the only qualified runs so far.
Tie-Down Roping
The top 5 remained the same in tie-down roping after the fifth set with Texas cowboy Ty Harris still in first place. He has an aggregate time of 15.4 seconds on two head. Chase Williams remains in seconds place with a posting a time of 16.4 seconds.
Westyn Hughes held on to the third spot with a time of 16.6 seconds. Tyler Milligan is just being Hughes at 16.8 seconds and Ryle Smith is in fifth place with an aggregate time of 17.0 seconds.
The lone newcomer to the leaderboard is Odessa, Texas cowboy Stetson Vest. Vest, who qualified for the National Finals in 2013, is in sixth place with an aggregate time of 17.7 seconds. Those were the only qualified runs so far.
