Ty Harris Round Win

By Patrick Everson

Prior to Saturday night, Ty Harris had 52 runs under his belt in the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Of those, 42 were at the Thomas & Mack Center, with the other 10 coming in Arlington, Texas, at the 2020 Wrangler NFR, an event displaced by COVID.

In all those runs, as great a tie-down roper as Harris is – he’s now a six-time NFR qualifier – he couldn’t break the 7-second barrier.

But run No. 53 was the breakthrough moment. And the timing couldn’t have been better. Just before Harris’ run in the third go-round, Riley Webb threw down a speedy 7.1-second run to take the lead and presumably land the first-place check.

As college football analyst Lee Corso would say, though: Not so fast, my friend.

Harris tied his calf in a blazing 6.9 seconds to win the round and $33,687.

“It’s my first 6-second run at the National Finals. But honestly, I’m not surprised. I’m just relieved,” Harris said.

It was also Harris’ first NFR go-round win since the 10^th and final round of the 2022 NFR, and the fourth NFR win of his career.

Saturday’s effort boosted him to No. 3 in the world tie-down standings, with season winnings of $262,860. That puts the 26-year-old cowboy from San Angelo, Texas, within striking distance of No. 1 Webb ($320,905) and No. 2 Shad Mayfield ($313,190).

“I knew I could do it. I knew I had a good calf, and I told myself not to back off of the barrier,” Harris said.

Now he just needs to keep clocking good times and cashing checks to keep the pressure on Webb, who’s the defending world champion, and Mayfield, who won the 2020 tie-down world crown.

“I’m just trying to be aggressive and make the fastest runs I possibly can,” Harris said.