Round Two

Team Wyoming cowboys are here at the national finals in Las Vegas competing in three events and earned paychecks in each Friday night.

Jhett Soars

“Loving it!” responded Jhett Johnson of Casper to a congratulatory text after he and partner Turtle Powell completed a 4.2 second team roping run to finish in a split of second and third place. They are number one in the average going into the Saturday night edition having earned nearly $25K. Jhett landed a pantyhose loop Friday night:

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Johnson told us he’d like to earn a go-round buckle but he’ll take second place every night if it means a climb to the top of the leaderboard by this time next weekend. Johnson/Powell are now up to #4 in the world standings.

Chasin’ Jason

There is one heck of a race going on in the national finals steer wrestling competition with just over ten thousand dollars separating the top four men. Lance Creek’s Jason Miller topped the$100K mark for the year with his turn of 3.9 seconds in the second round:

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You know it’s a dandy night of bull dogging when a run like that is only good enough for a 4th and 5th place split.

Welsh in the Money

Gillette’s Bobby Welsh earned his first 2011 national finals check Friday night with a nice spin aboard a bull called “Gatormade” for a score of 83.5 and fourth place:

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Welsh won $7,500 Friday. His bull and several others left their marks on Meeteetse, WY bullfighter Dusty Tuckness who required a closed-door session with Justin Sports Medicine physicians after the rodeo. Before going in, Dusty said the worst pain was in the right rear where a bull attempted to “uproot him.”

Gray Matters

Ryan Gray can’t be one of the Team Wyoming cowboys because he resides elsewhere but he’s good ole’ W-Y-O to the bone. The consummate pro bareback rider grew up in Cheyenne and Laramie and has many relatives in the “Cowboy State.” Gray has overcome a number of serious injuries in recent years – especially at the national finals – but he keeps on fighting. His work was stupendous Friday night on a horse known as “Grass Dancer” even though the hit to arena dirt was a hard one:

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Ryan Gray is now #4 in the world standings having added $14K to his total Friday night.