ProRodeo Sports News - Nov. 22, 2019

WRANGLER NATIONAL FINALS RODEO

Top of his Game Summer run keys Biglow’s season success

BY SCOTT KANIEWSKI C layton Biglow set a goal to have the best Fourth of July run in his career. Past Cowboy Christmas’ hadn’t been much to celebrate for the Clements, Calif., cowboy. But 2019 was a gift that kept on giving the rest of the regular season. Biglow won $21,683 during Cowboy Christmas, the third- highest amount among roughstock riders. That haul contributed to Biglow finishing the regular season in first place in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings in the bareback riding for the first time with $181,952. He’ll be the guy all the bareback riders are chasing when they hit the bucking chutes at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Dec. 5-14. “This season has been absolutely amazing,” Biglow said. Biglow has been on a steady climb since joining the PRCA in 2015. He was the PRCA | Resistol Rookie of the Year in 2016, finishing seventh in the world standings that season. He finished fifth in 2017 and fourth in the 2018 season. Last year, he entered theThomas &Mack Center in third place in the bareback riding with $135,166. After winning nine rodeos outright and being co-champion at another three in 2019, he won $46,786 more in this regular season than in the 2018 regular season. “There’s no better spot than first,” said Biglow, who turns 24 Dec. 18. “I’m super excited and can’t wait to get down there and go head to head with all these guys and get on some good stuff.” Among his outright wins were big-time victories at Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days, the Clovis (Calif.) Rodeo and the San Angelo (Texas) Cinch Shoot-Out Rodeo. Biglow also won the ProRodeo Tour title at the Washington State Fair Pro Rodeo in Puyallup. KashWilson, one of Biglow’s traveling partners, said Biglow has gone to a different level. “He’s always ridden really good, but I feel he’s on top of his game now,” Wilson said. “It doesn’t matter what horse he gets on – it could be a horse people don’t usually place on – you never count Clayton out. …When everybody sees him at a rodeo, they’re like, oh, no, Clayton is here.” Plenty of Biglow’s success this season was keyed during Cowboy Christmas, which was a change of pace for Biglow. “I’ve never had a good Fourth of July, but this Fourth of July I drew super good and even did for a couple months after that,” he said. “I hadn’t had a summer or Fourth run like that ever. This summer was a lot different for me – it was pretty dang good.” The only bad thing for Biglow is having to wait for the Wrangler NFR to begin. “I wish it was going on right now,” he said. “I wish it was right after the end of the season. It’s a long two-month wait. When you’re a little kid, Christmas seems like it takes forever. That’s exactly how the NFR feels for me. It’s the longest wait. Then it’s gone. Ten days in Vegas for people just hanging out feels like months. We feel like we’re there two days.”

2019 BAREBACK RIDING STANDINGS

1. Clayton Biglow, Clements, Calif............. $181,952 2. Kaycee Feild, Genola, Utah...................... 176,205 3. Orin Larsen, Inglis, Manitoba.................. 173,442 4. Tilden Hooper, Carthage, Texas............... 137,559 5. R. Champion, The Woodlands, Texas...... 130,829 6. Tim O’Connell, Zwingle, Iowa.................. 113,168 7. Caleb Bennett, Corvallis, Mont................ 110,973 8. Clint Laye, Cadogan, Alberta................... 107,954 9. Jake Brown, Cleveland, Texas. .................. 95,068 10. Steven Dent, Mullen, Neb.......................... 93,799 11. Austin Foss, Terrebonne, Ore.................... 92,895 12. Ty Breuer, Mandan, N.D............................ 88,699 13. Tanner Aus, Granite Falls, Minn.. .............. 81,595 14. Trenten Montero, Winnemucca, Nev......... 80,757 15. Taylor Broussard, Estherwood, La............ 79,271 QUOTABLE “There’s no better spot than first. I’m super excited and can’t wait to get down there and go head to head with all these guys and get on some good stuff.” HEAR IT FROM THE CHAMP Tim O’Connell 2018 PRCA Bareback Riding World Champion “Man, the third title – Clayton Biglow

probably I think it’s the most important to me. I’ve said in the past, they all mean something different. The first one was I won the first world title, I accomplished my

BAREBACK RIDING

O’Connell

lifelong dream of becoming a world champ. The second one really solidified that the first one wasn’t a fluke and that I mean business in the game of bareback riding. With the third one, they really made me fight, literally, to the bitter end. It took every single horse throughout the entire year to capture that world title. I felt pressure that I’d never felt before. It taught me a lot about myself as a man and as a bareback rider about what I can go through and come back as champion.”

ProRodeo Sports News 11/22/2019

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