Over the past nine nights, we have all been able to witness some of the best moments of the 2017 professional rodeo season by both the cowboys and cowgirls of the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association and the Womens Professional Rodeo Association. From numerous record-breaking runs to rules taking contestants out of world championship title hopes, we have seen it all here at the 2017 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. This year’s world championship title races will come down to tonight’s tenth and final round in many of the events so we all will be on the edges of our seats as we wait and see what happens!
This year has been a different feel than in years past with a majority of the contestants here in 2017 making their Wrangler National Finals Rodeo debuts. It is widely known that the first time you compete in the Thomas & Mack is much different than anything they have been through all year. This, in most cases, causes jitters that usually take time to work out, but this year the WNFR rookies have come to show everyone they will not be held back with a few of them making WNFR history while they do it.
The Stage Was Set For A Shoot-Out In The Tenth Round
Photo Credit: Tom Donoghue
As the nearly 18,000 fans poured into the Thomas & Mack Arena for the tenth and final performance of the 2017 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo the energy level was the highest we have seen it all week long. Each and every fan in attendance, watching live or from their television sets knew that tonight would crown their new 2017 PRCA and WPRA World Champions in all seven of the classic rodeo events. After what we saw last night, many of those titles are legitimately up for grabs by two or more contestants.
One of those that move to the front of many of our minds is the race that we are seeing in both the All-Around and the steer wrestling races. In the steer wrestling, world number one Ty Erickson just about missed a steer last night, getting drug around the arena while holding onto the animal’s tail finally earning a 26.80 second time before laying exhausted in the middle of the arena. Erickson leads world number two Tyler Pearson by a mere $25,000 which made tonight’s round a must win for Erickson. Coming into round ten Erickson sat in seventh in the aggregate while Pearson sat number two, which means 7th place pays $11,423 while number two pays $54,577 making this race come down to the very last minute. Find out how things played out as we announce our 2017 World Champions below!
Round Ten:
Bareback: Round Winner: Steven Dent & Mason Clements (88.00 Points)
Aggregate Winner: Tim O’Connell (853.00 Points)
Steer Wrestling: Round Winner: Tyler Waguespack (3.2 Seconds)
Aggregate Winner: Dakota Eldridge (45.40 Seconds)
Team Roping: Round Winner: Garrett Rogers & Jake Minor (4.1 Seconds)
Aggregate Winner: Chad Masters & Travis Graves (61.20 Seconds)
Saddle Bronc: Round Winner: Taos Muncy (87.50 Points)
Aggregate Winner: Brody Cress (841.50 Points)
Tie-Down Roping: Round Winner: Marcos Costa (7.8 Seconds)
Aggregate Winner: Marcos Costa (81.30 Seconds)
Barrel Racing: Round Winner: Hailey Kinsel (13.17 Seconds)
Aggregate Winner: Nellie Miller (137.32 Seconds)
Bull Riding: Round Winner: Sage Kimzey (88.00 Points)
Aggregate Winner: Sage Kimzey (601.50 Points)
** See Complete Round Results By Clicking HERE **
2017 World Champion Titles Handed Out Earlier Tonight
Photo Credit: Tom Donoghue
After a very long year traveling thousands of miles and a grueling 10-day marathon that we call the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo the time has come to see who would achieve their dreams of being called a World Champion at the end of it all. This year’s season has been one that we will not soon forget as records were broken in Las Vegas and heartbreaking storylines unfolded before our very eyes as we all watched in disbelief. For seven professional rodeo athletes, their dreams would become reality here in Championship Saturday from the 2017 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo! Who would it be you ask? Well, take a look at the announcements below to see if your favorites would manage to finish out the 2017 season on top and leave Las Vegas with a new title and a well-deserved Montana Silversmith belt buckle that reads “2017 World Champion”!
2017 Bareback World Champion:
Tim O’Connell
2017 Steer Wrestling World Champion:
Tyler Pearson
2017 Team Roping World Champions:
Erich Rogers & Cory Petska
2017 Saddle Bronc Riding World Champion:
Ryder Wright
2017 Tie-Down Roping World Champion:
Marcos Costa
2017 Barrel Racing World Champion:
Nellie Miller
2017 Bull Riding World Champion:
Sage Kimzey
2017 All-Around World Champion:
Tuf Cooper
** Photos To Come Courtesy Of Tom Donoghue **
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