Native American cowboys experience upside, downside at 2024 NFR

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – This was rodeo’s version of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

That synopsis played out for Native American team ropers Erich Rogers, Derrick Begay and Coleman Proctor during the 2024 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The 10-day event had some upsides, downsides and some parts that the trio could have or should have done better.

For a three-day stretch, Proctor was on top of the world when he took home three consecutive go-round buckles for winning the seventh, eighth and ninth round with heeling partner Logan Medlin, who hails from Tatum, New Mexico.

“I think the biggest thing is we’ve been together a long time,” Proctor said of their success. “We put a lot of hours in the practice pen together, and, you know, we’ve gotten very comfortable with each other.

“You know, there’s not a lot of guesswork whenever I rope with Logan Medlin,” the Oklahoman native added. “Chemistry is a big thing that we’ve been working on for the last month, you know, fine-tuning some little things (like) our communication.”

Their partnership has been going strong for the past four years and Medlin says that’s a big plus.

“We’ve kind of been through every situation that there is,” Medlin said. “Whether it be, you know, on the bubble trying to make it here. In 2021, we had to pretty much win out in the last month to get in and we were able to do that.

“We’ve come on the other side of the standings, to where we had it made, so we’ve pulled through in any kind of situation,” he added. “I just have the utmost confidence that Coleman is gonna do his job.”

Like they had done the previous three rounds, the Proctor/Medlin duo were looking to win another go-round buckle in the 10th round on Saturday night.

Things, however, took a turn as Proctor missed his end of the steer as the pair finished with a no time. That unfortunate mishap cost Proctor the PRCA All-Around title as he came up short to New Mexico cowboy Shad Mayfield by a mere $675 with Mayfield amassing $335,474.

“When he missed the last round, I felt bad for him,” Begay said of Proctor. “He didn’t draw the best steer that last night. He drew one of those steers that had been coming left all week. He needed to win the round for his partner to win a championship, so he wasn’t being selfish.

“He was trying to win for his partner and himself, too, but it didn’t work out for him,” Begay added. “I wished it worked out for him, but he’s going to be fine.”

The Proctor/Medlin team entered the 10th round fourth in the aggregate race, but with that mishap they dropped to eighth as they roped seven of 10 steers in 28.5 seconds.

Collectively, the pair earned $149,095 at the NFR as Proctor finished third in the team roping world standings with $304,885 in the heading position while Medlin took fourth in the world with $291,652 heeling.

The average race was won by team of Clint Summers and Jake Long as that pair roped nine steers in 44.30 seconds.

Begay, meanwhile, placed second in the aggregate with heeling partner Jonathan Torres while Rogers took fourth with Paul Eaves.

The Begay/Torres duo roped nine of 10 steers in 65.10 seconds.

“The average (race) was kind of soft this year,” Begay said. “I mean, it wasn’t that very tough and somehow we stayed in the average. I did miss in the third round, but the guys who were front of us started having some trouble in the seventh round.

“We moved up one spot in the seventh round, and we moved up a couple of times in the eighth round,” he added. “In the last round, we moved up on spot for second, so the finals ended way better than I thought because overall I didn’t do that very well.”

Of the 10 rounds, Begay felt that they made their best run in the opening round when the pair turned in a 4.2 run, which was fourth best.

“The first night, I felt like I done a good job,” Begay said. “I thought to myself that we’re going to have a good finals, but from there on out little stuff happened and it was pretty much my fault.”

On some nights, Begay felt that he was a little late at the barrier. In at least one round, he roped the neck instead of the steer’s horns.

“It’s those little things that I was doing that kept us from winning,” Begay said. “One night I had to fish it and in the ninth round I was late with my dally. We drew a good steer that night, and I was thinking we would place in the round, but my horse was wanting to be quick and for some reason I sense that I was kind of late with my dally.”

Despite missing his initial dally, Begay regrouped, and he managed to turn the steer with Torres coming in roping two feet for an 8.2 run.

“In the back of my head, I knew that we had to get a time and I couldn’t let my rope go,” Begay said. “We were already down one steer, and we couldn’t afford to be down two in the average, so I was hanging onto my rope no matter what.”

The Begay/Torres team won $113,778 at the NFR with $70,091 coming in the aggregate race.

Meanwhile, the Rogers/Eaves duo earned $120,298 during the 10-day run in Las Vegas with $40,750 coming in the average.

The latter pair got off to a terrific start as they earned four go-round checks, which included a second-place run of 3.9 seconds in the second round.

With that the duo led the average race heading into the fifth round, but they dropped a few spots after posted a pair of no times in the fifth and ninth round.

“We started off pretty good, and then I missed one,” Rogers said. “The second half of this rodeo kind started trickling down to where it wasn’t really in our favor, but it’s all part of rodeos. That’s why we’re here, we get to run 10 steers.”

In the 10th round, Rogers and his partner capped the NFR with another go-round check with a third-place finish of 3.9.

“Honestly, we made some good runs on some of the steers that we drew,” Rogers said. “We also had a couple of mishaps here and there, and that’s all part of rodeo.

“We did decent, so I can’t complain,” he added.

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