The boys outside the Top 15 made some noise the weekend of Aug. 8-11, 2024, winning major rodeos like the Lea County PRCA Rodeo in Lovington, New Mexico; Farm-City Pro Rodeo in Hermiston, Oregon; and Cache County Fair and Rodeo in Logan, Utah.
Fighting for their shot at the bright lights of Vegas, the teams outside the Top 15 are giving it their all, picking up checks in the last six weeks of the 2024 ProRodeo season. Here’s a list of the top five money-earning underdogs over the weekend.
5. Cyle Denison and Tanner Braden: $7,938 won over weekend
Cyle Denison and Tanner Braden have moved to 22nd and 13th in the world standings after their $7,938 weekend. Denison and Braden, both fighting for their first NFR appearances, won Logan with a 4.2-second run for $4,597 each. The won seventh in the first round in Lovington for $297 a man and seventh at the Lawton Rangers Rodeo in Oklahoma for $371 a man. They also pocketed $2,673 a man for fourth in the average in Lovington, bringing their 2024 earnings to $65,030.44 for Denison and $80,327.80 for Braden.
For Denison, he is currently outside the Top 15 by $12,414.59. Braden, on the other hand, sits just $1,949.67 ahead of 16th on the heel side.
4. Brady Tryan and Calgary Smith: $8,100 won over weekend
Brady Tryan and Calgary Smith remain No. 26 and 27 in the world standings, but they were major players over the weekend, cashing in $8,100 a man. Tryan and Smith won the Bear Paw Roundup in Chinook, Montana, with a 4.8-second run for $2,686 a man. They picked up $2,190 a man for third in the first round in Hermiston with a 5.0. They also added $3,224 to their earnings for second at the Bozeman Stampede with a 3.8-second run.
Tryan and Smith now have $63,640.44 and $59,041.13 won on the year, putting Tryan $13,804.59 behind 15thand Smith $19,350.31 outside the Top 15.
3. Kollin VonAhn: $8,890 won over weekend
Two-time World Champion Kollin VonAhn is now staring down the Top 15, sitting 16th in the world with $78,378.13—a cool $13.31 behind 15th. Behind Andrew Ward, No. 8 in the heading world standings, VonAhn won second in the first round, seventh in the second round and second in the average at the Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo for a total of $3,861 a man. They also won first in the first round in Lawton for $1,705 each and fifth in the average for $1,223 a man. They rounded out their weekend with $2,101 a man for fifth in the average in Lovington. The $8,890-a-man weekend helped push VonAhn up from 18th in the world.
2. Wyatt and Paden Bray: $11,674 won over weekend
Brothers Wyatt and Paden Bray continue to push forward in the world standings, winning $11,674 a man over the weekend to jump to No. 25 and No. 26 in the world standings, respectively.
The Bray brothers won the Lea County PRCA Rodeo with a 9.9 on two for $4,392 each and fifth in the second round with a 4.3-second run for $1,400 a man. They added $2,825 to their earnings for second in Round 2 in Hermiston with a 4.3-second run, as well as $1,036 a man for ninth in Bozeman. They rounded out the weekend with $2,021 each for third at the Missoula Stampede. Wyatt now has $63,740.02 won on the year, and Paden has $60,875.75. On the head side, Wyatt is $13,705.01 behind 15th, and Paden on the heel side is $17,515.69 outside the Top 15.
1. Tomlinson and Smith: $14,064 won over weekend
Tanner Tomlinson and Patrick Smith headlined the weekend for the underdogs, pocketing $14,064 a man. Prior to the weekend, Tomlinson and Smith sat 27th and 26th in the PRCA world standings. Thanks to their big weekend, they both jumped to 21st in the world with $72,191.40 a man and are outside the Top 15 by $5,253.63 for Tomlinson and $6,200.04 for Smith.
“It’s a big relief, but we still need a push and to have a couple more weeks like that,” Tomlinson, 24, said. “We’ve had about $10,000 weekends the last three weeks, so that’s helped us out a lot. We were way far behind. Now I’ve caught up, but I can’t lose any ground; I’ve got to keep pushing and get through it.”
The 2022 NFR champs took home the win in Hermiston with a 9.2 on two steers. Thanks to their Round 1 win, fourth-place finish in the second round and the aggregate title, they picked up $10,101 a man out of the Farm-City Pro Rodeo alone.
Tomlinson and Smith also picked up $2,546 each for second place in Lovington with a 4.2 and $1,417 a man for eighth in Logan. For the remaining six weeks of the 2024 PRCA season, Tomlinson is focused on making their run, like they did over the weekend, and letting the chips fall where they may.
“Me and Patrick’s run, if we catch, normally we’re going to place and win something,” Tomlinson said. “So, we just have to build on our run and work at it. If we can put enough runs together, it’s going to work out and place. We can’t do anything but help ourselves and catch the steers—that’s all we can do. We can’t really look at the standings and change it any other way besides winning.”
