Charly Crawford and Logan Medlin turned their 2020 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo around with a 3.8-second run in Round 7, worth 26,230.77 world standings points each.
It was their second check of the week after earning sixth in Round 2 with a 5.0-second run, worth 4,231 each.
“We knew we had a pretty good steer,” Medlin, 29, of Tatum, New Mexico, said. “He was probably a little off pace for the rest of the herd. We knew he kind of liked to check off, and man, Charly got a great start, it felt like. He was even stepping to me and he still dabbed it on him and made my job easy.”
https://www.youtube.com/embed/MP3SqMgisDA
“I love when they check off,” said Crawford, 42, of Stephenville, Texas. “That makes my job easy. All I gotta do is get ’em hooked right there and get out of the way. I grew up in barns when I was little, and we roped a lot of steers that died off. That was something I knew very well.”
Crawford is planning semi-retirement after this Finals in order to dedicate himself to his family (including 19-time WPRA World Champ wife Jackie, who is roping in this year’s National Finals of Breakaway Roping, 16-year-old daughter Kaydence, 3-year-old son Creed, and baby-girl-on-the-way Journey.
Jackie Crawford: What World-Class Sportsmanship Looks Like
After some bad breaks with barriers and bad draws, Crawford swapped from his 13-year-old, running-bred gelding, Nastee Leader, to his 12-year-old, faster-footed Gypsy Sailor for the Round 7 win.
“Nastee was just going to give me an average go every time,” Crawford said. “He was going to give me a good go, and with the start being a little bit different, he scores good and he runs and he’s freer and bigger steers, so I started on him. And then we had a tough first round steer, and he just got out of it… Then after that, I gave him one more shot. Man, I just knew with this start, these steers, Sailor is fast-footed enough to give me a chance to win and here we are. That was really cool because that was one of Jackie’s first horses that she’s gotten to the NFR heading, and she made that horse. I was really wanting that for her.”
Start to Finish: 5 Cowboys that Started the Horses They Rode to the NFR
Medlin rode his Purina AQHA/PRCA Horse of the Year Nita Win Playboy, the ex-ranch horse he calls Drago.
“I mean, this is what you dream of as a little kid,” Medlin said. “Hearing the crowd roar at the NFR to be 3 to win a go-round, and to do it on Drago. He’s felt good all week and tonight was no different.”
Crawford and Medlin are eighth in the average with a time of 49.70 on six head, and they’ve won 40,461.54 during the 2020 NFR, including the 10,000 automatically given to every contestant. They’re 10th in the PRCA world standings with 95,690.81 (Crawford) and 95,082.38 (Medlin) won.
Listen to Charly Crawford and Logan Medlin on The Score here
Notably, Dustin Egusquiza and Travis Graves, who were in the driver’s seat for the world title and average, took a no-time with a miss on the head side on a steer that Cody Snow also missed earlier in the week. They dropped to seventh in the average with a time of 46.10 seconds on six head.
If the rodeo ended tonight and current average placings were calculated into the world standings earnings, the PRCA projects Luke Brown and Joseph Harrison would take home the gold buckles. At present, they’re second in the average with a 34.90 on six after a 7.1-second run in Round 7 that required Brown’s expert patience with a head loop.
Here are the NFR team roping Round 7 results, aggregate standings and world standings:
Full results:
Cody Snow and Junior Nogueira: NT
Clay Smith and Jade Corkill: 4.3 seconds
Luke Brown and Joseph Harrison: 7.1 seconds
Brenten Hall and Chase Tryan: 4.4 + 5 seconds
Kolton Schmidt and Hunter Koch: 4.4 seconds
Jeff Flenniken and Tyler Worley: 4.7 seconds
Nelson Wyatt and Levi Lord: 4.8 seconds
Erich Rogers and Paden Bray: 5.3 seconds
Chad Masters and Wesley Thorp: 4.7 + 5 seconds
Charly Crawford and Logan Medlin: 3.8 seconds
Levi Simpson and Shay Carroll: NT
Clay Tryan and Jake Long: NT
Andrew Ward and Buddy Hawkins: NT
Dustin Egusquiza and Travis Graves: NT
Colby Lovell and Paul Eaves: NT
