LAS VEGAS – For all his struggles over the 10 nights of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, Jim Ross Cooper ended the 2014 season with a bang.
The “Riding for the Brand” team roping heeler from Monument, N.M., placed in just three go-rounds with partner Brandon Beers. On Saturday night during the 10th go-round, the team stopped the clock in 4.1 seconds to win $19,002. In all, they earned nearly $37,000.
That’s still a pretty solid week and a half of work for the cowboys. This was Cooper’s fifth qualification to the NFR, and their second-best finish.
It wasn’t a solid finish for the other two Tate Branch Auto Group cowboys, saddle bronc rider Taos Muncy and tie-down roper Clint Cooper.
Muncy, a two-time world champion from Corona, N.M., failed to record a score Saturday night. Still, he finished seventh in the 10-round average, riding eight horses for a cumulative score of 612.5 points. He pocketed almost $23,000 at the NFR and finished sixth in the world standings.
Clint Cooper, who grew up in Lovington, N.M., and lives in Decatur, Texas, suffered a no-time in Round 10. Still, he earned nearly $39,000 in Sin City and finished 12th on the money list. His half-brother, Tuf, won his third world championship.