News from the world of roping

Jim Ross Cooper clinched the first tie-down roping win of his pro career with an 11.5 run Sept. 18 in the finals of the 100th annual event in Pendleton, Ore. The Monument, N.M., cowboy, son of 1981 world all-around champion Jimmie Cooper, earned $11,722.

With his second-place finish in steer roping in Pendleton, Trevor Brazile, an Amarillo, Tx. native, pushed his all-around earnings to $248,654 in last week's world standings.

2010 PRCA World Standings
Unofficial as of June 1, 2010.

Team Roping (header)
1.      Turtle Powell, Stephenville, Texas       $70,605
2.      Chad Masters, Clarksville, Tenn.         38,347
3.      Clay Tryan, Billings, Mont.      37,882
4.      Caleb Mitchell, Pollok, Texas    29,766
5.      Travis Tryan, Billings, Mont.    26,670
6.      Ty Blasingame, Ramah, Colo.      25,877
7.      Trevor Brazile, Decatur, Texas   24,262
8.      Joel Bach, Millsap, Texas        23,006
9.      Tommy Edens, Gatesville, Texas   22,764
10.     Colby Siddoway, Hooper, Utah     22,399
11.     Luke Brown, Rock Hill, S.C.      21,386
12.     Charly Crawford, Prineville,OR   21,263
13.     Jake Weddle, Saint Joe, Ark.     20,497
14.     Derrick Begay, Seba Dalkai, Ariz.        20,258
15.     JoJo LeMond, Andrews, Texas      19,180
16.     Jay Adams, Logandale, Nev.       19,027
17.     Britt Williams, Hammond, Mont.   18,748
18.     Brady Tryan, Huntley, Mont.      17,922
19.     Keven Daniel, Franklin, Tenn.    17,472
20.     Matt Robertson, Augusta, Mont.   17,423

Team roping (heeler)
1.      Cory Petska, Lexington, Okla.    $68,609
2.      Travis Graves, Jay, Okla.        38,927
3.      Jade Corkill, Fallon, Nev.       38,347
4.      Justin Copp, Justin, Texas       26,929
5.      Cody Hintz, Spring Creek, Nev.   25,877
6.      Michael Jones, Stephenville, Texas       24,695
7.      Patrick Smith, Midland, Texas    24,262
8.      Martin Lucero, Stephenville, Texas       23,301
9.      Russell Cardoza, Farmington, Calif.      23,114
10.     Justin Hendrick, Rosenberg, Texas        22,764
11.     Matt Zancanella, Aurora, S.D.    21,088
12.     Monty Petska, Turlock, Calif.    20,368
13.     Chase Tryan, Helena, Mont.       20,324
14.     Cesar de la Cruz, Tucson, Ariz.  20,258
15.     Bobby Harris, Highmore, S.D.     19,698
16.     Brad Culpepper, Ashburn, Ga.     19,448
17.     Randon Adams, Logandale, Nev.    19,180
18.     Austin Adams, Logandale, Nev.    19,027
19.     Paul Eaves, Millsap, Texas       18,821
20.     Ryan Motes, Weatherford, Texas   18,642

Tie-down Roping
1.      Trevor Brazile, Decatur, Texas   $71,793
2.      Stran Smith, Childress, Texas    67,739
3.      Shane Hanchey, Sulphur, La.      53,042
4.      Fred Whitfield, Hockley, Texas   51,963
5.      Ryan Jarrett, Summerville, Ga.   46,598
6.      Houston Hutto, Del Rio, Texas    36,419
7.      Tyson Durfey, Colbert, Wash.     34,302
8.      Justin Maass, Giddings, Texas    33,718
9.      Tuf Cooper, Decatur, Texas       30,424
10.     Blair Burk, Durant, Okla.        26,085
11.     Ace Slone, Cuero, Texas  24,450
12.     Scott Kormos, Teague, Texas      23,663
13.     Stetson Vest, Childress, Texas   23,595
14.     Timber Moore, Aubrey, Texas      23,527
15.     Cade Swor, Crafton, Texas        23,132
16.     Clint Robinson, Spanish Fork, Utah       22,859
17.     Jerrad Hofstetter, Portales, N.M.        21,747
18.     Trent Creager, Stillwater, Okla.         21,404
19.     Jerome Schneeberger, Ponca City, Okla.   19,872
20.     Cody Ohl, Hico, Texas    18,741

Steer Roping
1.      Rocky Patterson, Pratt, Kan.     $18,752
2.      Vin Fisher Jr., Andrews, Texas   15,865
3.      Trevor Brazile, Decatur, Texas   14,586
4.      Bryce Davis, Abilene, Texas      13,671
5.      Dan Fisher, Andrews, Texas       10,260
6.      Neal Wood, Guy, Texas    9,145
7.      Scott Snedecor, Uvalde, Texas    8,692
8.      Walter Priestly, Robstown, Texas         8,648
9.      Cash Myers, Athens, Texas        8,083
10.     Will Gasperson, Decatur, Texas   7,367
11.     J.P. Wickett, Sallisaw, Okla.    7,315
12.     Ralph Williams, Skiatook, Okla.  6,594
13.     J.D. Yates, Pueblo, Colo.        6,572
14.     Rod Hartness, Pawhuska, Okla.    6,550
15.     Chet Herren, Pawhuska, Okla.     6,542
16.     J. Tom Fisher, Andrews, Texas    6,504
17.     J. Paul Williams, Burbank, Okla.         6,138
18.     Tony Reina, wharton,tx   6,040
19.     Kim Ziegelgruber, Edmond, Okla.  6,029
20.     Cody Scheck, Kiowa, Kan.         6,008
The National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association instituted some rule changes for this year's College National Finals Rodeo, the most important of which involves the ropers.
Team ropers this year are only allowed to carry two loops as opposed to the three they were allowed to carry previously. Tie-down ropers are only allowed to carry one loop rather than two. Breakaway ropers have to make a bell-collar catch, in which the loop passes over the nose and head of the calf. In previous years loops did not have to be clean bell-collar catches.
"I think it makes for a smoother rodeo and it improves (the contestants') roping," Mesalands Community College coach C.J. Aragon said. "In the past, with that extra loop, a lot of kids were taking chances because they knew had an extra loop. And I think we've already seen that the breakaway ropers have been more consistent with their loops."

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Tyson Durfey says he wants to live his life “like a snowball coming down a mountain, getting bigger as I go.” So far, so good.
Durfey has qualified for each of the last three Wrangler National Finals Rodeos and improved his spot in the final world standings each year, advancing from 11th in 2007 to seventh a year later and third last year when he won $85,236 in Las Vegas.
And he is off to the best start of his career in 2010.
When Durfey broke the arena record at the June 11-13 Sisters (Ore.) Rodeo with a two-head time of 16.9 seconds, he secured his seventh title at a PRCA rodeo this year.
With a third-place result on his backup horse, Hemi, at the Lea Park Rodeo in Marwayne, Alberta, Durfey banked $6,317 for the weekend. That pushed his season total to $42,985, good for sixth place in the PRCA World Standings.

Preston Williams has won two trucks, 17 horse trailers and scores of trophy buckles, saddles and spurs during his rodeo career. He’s won the all-around, team roping and calf roping titles at the Indian National Finals Rodeo and is leading the standings in team roping again this year.
But last year in Reno, Williams, who grew up in Schurz and graduated from Yerington High School, did something to top those other career milestones.
He captured the title of World’s Greatest Roper.
“That’s probably my greatest accomplishment right there,” said the 34-year-old Williams, who graduated from Yerington High in 1993. “I’ve never really made a full attempt to go to the NFR. I’ve kind of been a part-time cowboy for the last few years, but to be able to come out there and win against that group of guys, I was pretty proud of that
That “group of guys” included eight-time PRCA world all-around champion Trevor Brazile of Decatur, Texas; two-time World’s Greatest Roper winner Daniel Green of Oakdale, Calif., and world champion team ropers Chad Masters of Clarksville, Tenn., Randon Adams of Logandale and Matt Sherwood of Pima, Ariz.
Williams will be defending that title in June against many of those same all-stars, 35 ropers in all, when Lazy E Productions presents the 2010 World’s Greatest Roper at the Reno Livestock Events Center Indoor Arena.