Headliners and Hidden Gems From San Angelo, Redmond, Bakersfield and More
Headliners and Hidden Gems From San Angelo, Redmond, Bakersfield and More
The latest weekend in ProRodeo brought plenty of action, with headliners emerging from the opening rounds of San Angelo, the final stop on the Texas Swing, and standout roughstock rides in Oregon and California.
As for the Hidden Gems, an all-around hand impressed in Redmond, while a Hawaiian cowgirl carved out a breakthrough moment in Arizona.
Headliner – Jordan Driver: Driver leads the Average and Round 2 in San Angelo after blowing the rest of the field away with a 14.04-second run, the fastest of the rodeo by almost two tenths of a second. At 30.04, Driver leads the two-head Average by .27 seconds. Currently in the midst of the best year of her career, she is No. 17 in the WPRA World Standings.
Hidden Gem – Russel Cardoza: The 38-year-old all-around cowboy took second in the tie-down roping and sixth in the team roping at the High Desert Stampede (Oregon). His tie-down roping check of $4,124 was his largest of the season.
Headliner – Cole Reiner: Reiner rode Korkow Rodeo’s Tator Tot for 88 points to go to the lead in Round 1 in San Angelo after the first weekend. This is only Reiner’s eighth rodeo of the season and he is No. 20 in the PRCA World Standings.
Hidden Gem – Evan Betony: The bareback rider continued to clean up in his home state of Arizona with a win at the Legends of the West Rodeo in Wickenburg. He has been to six rodeos since March 1, five of them in Arizona, and won three of them (Cave Creek, Queen Creek, Wickenburg).
Headliner – Kade Bruno: The No. 2 bronc rider in the World had only won one check of more than $1,000 ($4,302 in Columbia, South Carolina) since March 8, but won the High Desert Stampede and finished second at the Cinch World’s Toughest in Bakersfield. Both those rides were 86.5 points and both those checks were worth at least $4,700.
Hidden Gem – Skinny Parsons: The 21-year-old bronc rider has won three rodeos since March 15 and over the weekend, he was 84 points to win the ABC Pro Rodeo (Texas). Parsons is second in the PRCA Permit Standings.
Headliner – JR Stratford: The 22-year-old won both the rodeo and the Xtreme Bulls at the High Desert Stampede with rides of 86.5 and 91 points respectively. He won more than $15,000 and moved up to No. 18 in the PRCA Bull Riding World Standings.
Hidden Gem – Cooper Thatcher: The saddle bronc rider finished second at the ABC Pro Rodeo and is in position to advance to the Finals in San Angelo. Both of his rides were 82 points.
Headliner – Bridger Anderson: The North Dakota native finished second at the High Desert Stampede with a 4.2-second run and made runs of 3.3 and 4.2 in San Angelo to sit third in the Average after the first weekend. This was Thatcher’s first weekend rodeoing since Feb. 8.
Hidden Gem – Mike McGinn: McGinn leads the steer wrestling in San Angelo with runs of 3.4 and 3.8 seconds. His best Texas Swing finish this season is fifth in Fort Worth.
Headliner – Jestyn Woodward: Woodward is No. 10 in the PRCA Bull Riding World Standings after going 90 on Rosser Rodeo’s Thriller to win the Cinch World’s Toughest in Bakersfield.
Hidden Gem – Clay Jorgenson: Jorgenson’s breakout year continued in the bareback riding over the weekend when he won $4,000 total for a third place finish in Bakersfield and a second place finish in Minot, North Dakota. The 28-year-old is currently No. 9 in the World Standings coming off of his best career finish, 23rd, a year ago.
Headliner – Bailey Bates: Bates made two 1.9-second runs to set the pace in a very fast breakaway roping in San Angelo. There have already been 10 times in the 1s after just one a year ago.
Hidden Gem – Camela Haalilio: The Hawaiian breakaway roper competed for just the fifth time this season at the Legends of the West ProRodeo and won with a 2.2-second run. It was her first payday of the season.