BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN @PRORODEOBRETT
The plan was to make today’s Monday Notebook a comprehensive look back on the five Texas Swing Rodeos, but the cowboys had other ideas at the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo and Red Bluff Round-Up. Simply too much happened.
Whether it was a $1 million cowboy riding a legendary horse for another legendary moment or a rodeo win that vaulted a second-year pro into the Top 15 in the blink of an eye, this past weekend deserved its own instant of prominence.
So without further adieu, here’s a full briefing of what happened in front one of the best rodeo crowd’s in the world in West Texas and in the northern part of California’s sun-splashed Central Valley. We’ll recap the Texas Swing later this week.
- RC Landingham set the arena record in Red Bluff with 92.5 points on C5 Rodeo’s Virgil. As the very last bareback rider of the event, Landingham certainly left something for the fans with an explosive ride on a horse estimated to have delivered cowboys more than 30 rides of 90+ Points. Landingham received a score of 47 points while Virgil was marked 45.5. He earned $8,615 for the what is now the highest marked ride of his career and and sits No. 10 in the World.
- Bareback rider Cooper Cooke’s win at San Angelo means he is the only roughstock cowboy to lead the PRCA World Standings without winning RodeoHouston. The 21-year-old made twin rides of 88.5 points to get his first career Texas Swing win, which was enough to clear Leighton Berry by just under $1,000. Cooke already has $78,111 after finishing last year No. 21 in the World with $82,719.
- Tie-down roper Dylan Hancock moved from No. 51 to No. 13 in the PRCA World Standings after winning his hometown rodeo in San Angelo. At just 20-years-old, Hancock can officially check off a dream of winning the rodeo he grew up watching. He was 24.9 on three and won more than $12,000 to go along with another $7,000 in Red Bluff for third in the Average. He was 7.8 to win the Finals in San Angelo to seal the win emphatically.
- Hancock travels with tie-down roper Riley Webb and breakaway roper Josie Conner, who both won Red Bluff. Throw in the fourth member, No. 24 ranked tie-down roper Cole Clemons, and the rig more than $72,000 over the last two weekends. Webb, who is currently ranked No. 3, won the most of the quartet with just over $30,000.
- Saddle bronc rider Logan Hay made rides of 87, 88.5 and 87.5 points to win over $9,000 between the San Angelo Cinch Chute Out and Red Bluff Round-Up. Ironically, the one ride Hay didn’t get paid for was the highest marked, his 88.5 in the Long Round of the Cinch Chute Out. However, he made sure to pay it off with an 87.5-pointer on Larry Culpepper later on Saturday evening. Hay finished second at both events and is No. 5 in the World Standings.
- Keenan Hayes was 91.5 on Pickett Pro Rodeo’s New Scarlet to become the first bareback rider to ever win the Cinch Chute Out two years in a row. San Angelo has been nothing but kind to the 21-year-old reigning World Champion in his short career. All three seasons he has been in ProRodeo, he was won there in some capacity. It has been the Chute Out the past two years and in 2022, he rode for 86 and 90 points to win both rounds and the Average while still on his permit.
- Steer wrestler Stetson Jorgensen placed in all four rounds to win the Average in Red Bluff. Jorgensen proved he is ready for a format more often seen at summer rodeos with his win at the four-header in California. He was between 4.3 and 5.3 seconds on every run and never placed better than third in a round, but just kept cashing, ultimately winning the rodeo by more than a second with an aggregate time of 19.1.
- Bull rider Hayes Weight has made just three qualified rides since March 30, however, those three rides have earned him about $22,000. He’s No. 5 in the World. Weight made it count in the biggest way on Saturday when he won $12,500 as the only bull rider in the Short Round of the Cinch Chute Out to make the whistle. To boot, he did it for 90.5 points on Pete Carr’s Time Bomb, which was his first 90+ Point Ride since Fourth of July Weekend in 2022. He was also 88 points last weekend at the Clark County Fair and Rodeo (Nevada) and 87 to win the Cinch World’s Toughest in North Carolina on March 30.
- Bareback rider Tanner Aus has won about $30,000 since March 22 to move from No. 11 to No. 3 in the PRCA World Standings. Winning Rodeo Austin certainly helped, but Aus has not slowed down since then. The eight-time NFR qualifier has finished third at the Clark County Fair and Rodeo, second at the Rocky Mountain Challenged and third in the Red Bluff Round-Up since April 13. Overall, seven of his last 12 rides have been marked 85 points or more.
