It has been a record-breaking season for team ropers Junior Nogueira and Kaleb Driggers.
The two recently broke the regular season earnings record with around two months left to go in the season. After breaking the record, and putting together an incredible stretch of roping, the two are your Timed Event Athletes of the Week.
Driggers and Nogueira broke the record previously held by Clay Smith ($150,512 in 2019) and Travis Graves ($147,653 in 2010). The two have both earned $168,455 and are in the midst of another hot stretch.
Over the weekend, the reigning World Champion pair placed third in the opening round at the Lea County Fair and Rodeo (New Mexico) and second on their second go, earning them the Average title and over $6,000.
At the other NFR Playoff rodeo, the Dodge City Roundup (Kansas) the pair also won more than $2,500 thanks to a 4.4 second run in Round 2.
The duo wasn’t done, they also placed second third at the XIT Rodeo & Reunion (Texas), fifth at the Douglas County Fair and Rodeo (Colorado) and seventh at Kansas’ Biggest Rodeo. All together, they made eight runs and won six checks of more than $1,000. They will likely add a seventh check, too, as their 4.3 second time has them second at the Larmier County Fair (Colorado), which concludes tonight.
Their season has been nothing short of incredible, and now they have opened a big lead on second place. Driggers is currently $40,000 ahead of Clay Tryan and Nogueira is a staggering $65,000 ahead of Buddy Hawkins.