Erickson among Montana names atop PRCA standings
There are Montanans galore at the top of the most recent PRCA world standings.
Including Ty Erickson of Helena, the former Helena Capital athlete who currently leads the standings in the steer wrestling.
“I’m just riding a lotta good horses, man,” said Erickson Monday afternoon while waiting to compete at the Colorado State Fair and Rodeo in Pueblo, Colo. “Drawing some good steers and making some good runs.”
Erickson, who made his first National Finals Rodeo appearance last December, earned more than $7,000 last week to pass Hunter Cure in the PRCA standings.
His horses include “Shake Em,” a 14-year-old brown roan that Erickson owns and trained, and the 2014 PRCA Horse of the Year, “Cadillac,” a sorrel owned by Texan Frank Sterling Wallace.
“I feel good about it, but I’m not gonna change anything,” he said. “I’m going to keep going to these rodeos, keep trying to score good and make good runs. I’m not necessarily trying to watch these other guys and beat them, I just want to make the best run that I can. Whether I go in first or 15 at the NFR, it doesn’t matter. I’m just going to try to make good runs.”
Erickson, 25, finished seventh in the 2014 world standings after placing second in the average at the NFR. Now that the former Montana State rodeo star has had a taste of the rich Vegas rodeo, he wants more.
“Definitely,” he said. “It was an experience of a lifetime last year. I’m excited to go back and see what I can do.”
The news on the Montana steer wrestling wasn’t all good last week, though, as Beau Clark, who starred on the football field at Montana State and qualified for the NFR in 2012, suffered a season-ending torn pectoral muscle in his chest at a rodeo in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Clark, who has been in the top 20 all season (the top 15 in each event qualify for the NFR), is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday.
“I’m real good friends with Beau,” Erickson said. “It’s unfortunate. And it’s unfortunate whenever it happens to anybody. You’re working your (behind) off all year, trying to make it to these rodeos and make enough money to get to the National Final Rodeo. And then you’ve got a month left and you tear your pec. It’s pretty disheartening to me. It sucks.”
Erickson competes in his home-state Montana Circuit and said he will be in Great Falls in January for the annual Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit Finals.
Meanwhile, the PRCA standings this week have a definite Treasure State look at the top. Defending world champion team roper Clay Tryan of Billings is once again atop the heading standings, and Montana-born barrel racer Lisa Lockhart, who grew up in Circle and lives now in South Dakota, is also ranked No. 1 in the world.
In the bull riding, meanwhile, Edgar’s Parker Breding is fourth in this week’s PRCA standings. Kody DeShon of Helena is 13th.
Among upcoming PRCA events are those in Plains (Sept. 4-5), Dillon (Sept. 5-6), and White Sulphur Springs (Sept. 6-7).
The PRCA contributed to this report.