Lone Star State well represented in Finals

By LYNN MONTGOMERY | East Texas Edition

Dec. 22, 2005 - Texans finishing the year with good wins and monies, and the Wrangler National Rodeo Finals, held in Las Vegas, included:

Only the top 15 in each division advanced to the NFR competition.

Bareback

Wes Stevenson of Kaufman, finished third for the year with yearly winnings of $165,484.36.

Cimmaron Gerke of Fort Worth tied with Kelly Timberman of Wyoming to win the average title, which net $36,346. He finished the year in fourth with $162,612.45 in winnings.

Bonham’s Eric Swenson and Mansfield’s Jason Jeter went from eighth and ninth places, respectively, to 13th and 14th positions. Both won over $75,000 on the year.

Steer Wrestling

Cash Myers of Athens finished in the 5th position for the year with winnings of $120,687.43.

Team Roping-Heading 

Tee Woolman of Llano, along with his partner Cory Petska of Lexington, Okla., won the average title with a total time of 71.7 seconds on 10 head. Woolman and Petska finished second in the world with $147,669 and $148,144, respectively.

Steve Purcella of Hereford finished third in the average race, and third for the year with $142,856.60 in his pocket.

Speed Williams of Llano finished sixth and won close to $113,000.

Caldwell’s David Key finished the year in 12th position, and won over $72,000.

Lipan’s Matt Tyler, gained ground and moved from 13th position to 11th in the finals. He won over $75,000.

Team Roping-Heeling

Kory Koontz of Sudan had a tough week. (See sidebar.) 

Allen Bach of Weatherford slid from third place to eighth place at the finals end, but won over $104,000 for the year. 

Poolville’s Richard Durham began finals in fourth place, but finished 10th, just shy of $100,000.

Kinney Harrell of Brady finished in ninth place, with earnings of  $100,411.56.

Llano’s Rich Skeleton moved from ninth to seventh position for the year, just shy of $113,000.

Saddle Bronc 

Bradley Harter of Weatherford came into the finals in eight place but finished the year in 12th place.

Tie-Down Roping

Nine out of 15 cowboys in this event were from Texas.

Third place went to defending champion Monty Lewis of Hereford. He won over $161,000 for the year.

Stran Smith of Childress, who briefly held the No. 1 spot, won just over $160,000, and finished fourth.

Trevor Brazile of Decatur had a lot on his plate at the finals and dropped from fifth place in the rankings to 11th place. 

Even though Ricky Canton of Navasota has set records, he dropped from 11th place to 13th, but still managed to win over $100,000.

Winning over $44,000, Giddings’ Justin Maass was able to move from 12th to ninth for the year. 

Houston Hutto of Del Rio won over $84,000 for the year, finishing 15th.

Winnie’s Cade Swor entered the finals in last place but with his final winnings, moved up to the 12th position.

Barrel racing

Denise Adams Fea of Lufkin was able to place in several rounds and moved from sixth to fifth place, winning over $135,000.

Previous world champion Brittany Pozzi of Victoria slid from seventh to 10th place, and finished with over $106,000 for the year. 

Liz Pinkston of San Antonio won the average title with a total time of 142.65 seconds on 10 runs, which helped her win over $127,000 for the year and move up two notches to seventh place.

Scurry’s Melanie Southard won close to $66,000 for the year.

Talina Bird of Post moved up in the overall rankings, from 13th to 11th place, and won over $88,000.

Molly Powell of Stephenville came in sitting in the 15th place, but with some fast times and a second place finish in the aggregate, she moved up to 8th.

Bull Riding

With neon green attire, Bryan Richardson from Dallas came into the finals in second place, but after only riding four bulls, he placed eighth in the average and was bumped to the third place, winning over $192,000.

Kountze’s Howdy Cloud began the finals in sixth but when at the conclusion, he was ninth. 

Clayton Foltyn of El Campo also placed in the aggregate, winning over $9,800 for sixth place. For the year, Foltyn finished 11th, with just over $107,000.

Another aggregate contender, D. J. Domangue of Wharton, finished seventh, which moved h im from 13th to 12th, at the end of the competition.

All-Around

For three years, Trevor Brazile held the All-Around title but this year a dairyman from Georgia - Ryan Jarrett won the title. Brazile finished in third with $197,400. 

Fourth was won by Cash Myers, fifth by Tee Woolman, ninth by Clayton Foltyn, 10th - Rich Skeleton, and 14th - Joe Beaver.