BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN
The PRCA Team Roping (Heeler) bubble really heats up from places 14-16, but there is also something interesting to watch with the No. 12 and 13 cowboys in the world, Logan Medlin and Joseph Harrison.
Screenshot via ProRodeo.com
Medlin and Harrison are currently about $5,500 and $4,000 clear of the No. 15 spot, but both of their partners, Coleman Proctor (No. 16 header) and Chad Masters (No. 17 header), are on the outside looking in.
So, not only are Medlin and Harrison roping to keep themselves in NFR contention, they also have the opportunity to lift their partners into the Top 15 and ensure they will not have to make a change in Las Vegas.
As for spots 14-16, they are occupied by Brady Minor ($59,878), Caleb Hendrix ($57,800) and Cory Petska ($56,148).
Minor is in the same position as his brother and partner Riley: attempting to hold off two talented cowboys and hold on to one of the final two NFR spots. Minor sat No. 11 in the world at the end of August, but has dropped due to big moves from Medlin, Harrison and Jeremy Buhler, all three of whom have gone from outside the Top 17 into the Top 13 in September.
Rookie Caleb Hendrix spent August in and out of the Top 20 before rocketing up the standings at the beginning of September. Over Labor Day weekend, he and Quinn Kessler won the Magic Valley Stampede (Idaho), the Dillon Jaycees PRCA Rodeo (Montana) the Iron County Fair PRCA Rodeo (Utah) and a Go-Round in Ellensburg. The pair pocketed more than $13,000 during that stretch and Hendrix reached as high as No. 12 in the World Standings before falling back 15th.
Trailing Hendrix by less than $2,000 for the 15th and final spot at the NFR is a man 20 years his senior, Cory Petska, a 42-year-old Arizona cowboy who made 15 NFRs in 16 years from 2003-2018. Roping with Derrick Begay this year, Petska has won five rodeos, including Reno.
Like on the head side, there are several heelers still in contention that will need some things to break their way during the final week of the season to end up at the NFR in December. Those cowboys are No. 17 Cole Davison ($52,852), No. 18 Brye Crites ($52,484), No. 19 Carson Johnson ($52,332) and No. 20 Douglas Rich ($52,243).
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