Rookie bareback rider claims win on NFR 1st night — PHOTOS

Bareback rider Weston Timberman is used to winning championships. He won his second straight collegiate bareback riding national championship this summer.

While the stage of the National Finals Rodeo is far different from the college championships, the crowd on the first night of rodeo’s biggest event wouldn’t have known Timberman was making his first NFR run.

Timberman won the first go-round Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center. He posted a score of 87 in his bareback riding run and claimed $33,687 in earnings.

“It was awesome,” Timberman said. “It’s a pretty cool feeling to come out here and do that in the first round.”

Timberman still has a slim chance at the bareback riding world title. He entered the NFR seventh in the world standings and about $79,000 out of first place. But Rocker Steiner, who was first in the standings, did not finish high enough to claim any earnings Thursday.

Timberman jumped to third in the standings with $197,786.90 after his go-round win, more than $51,400 behind first-place Keenan Hayes.

“It’s been a pretty unforgettable year,” Timberman said. “I’ve won big rodeos all year, and now coming out here to win the first round at my first NFR, there’s no better feeling.”

Hayes, last year’s bareback riding world champion, finished third with a score of 85 and claimed $20,104 in earnings to take the lead in the standings with $249,186.73. Steiner fell to second with $243,318.94.

Timberman, a 20-year-old rookie from Columbus, Montana, is part of a youth movement in bareback riding. Steiner is 20, and Hayes, 21, is competing in his second NFR.

Timberman might lack experience but not talent.

“There’s nothing like being able to let go on one of the bareback horses,” he said. “That’s one of the most freeing feelings ever, and then it just became ever more freeing. I wouldn’t have ever guessed that, but I guess the finals does that to you.”

Timberman has 12 event wins this year in ProRodeo. He graduated this summer from Clarendon College, a community college in Clarendon, Texas. He successfully defended his bareback riding title in June at the College National Finals Rodeo in Wyoming.

Timberman credited coaches Bret Franks and Wyatt Smith for preparing him to take the next step in his rodeo career.

“I wouldn’t be in this situation right here if it wasn’t for college and Bret Franks down there in Clarendon,” Timberman said. “I was a pretty average bareback rider before I got there. (Franks) really pushed me to new heights, and I thank him for that and that whole program.”

Timberman said he knew he had a good run Thursday but wasn’t expecting a go-round win on opening night.

“I’ve been on enough horses to really know how they feel out, and the son of a gun felt bucky, and I felt like I did my job good,” Timberman said. “When I got off finally, I was pretty excited to pump up the crowd.”

There are nine more runs for Timberman to make a run at a world championship. The long grind and unpredictability of the 10-day event didn’t seem to bother him.

“That’s my job (to stack good runs),” he said. “That’s what I’m here to do. Let’s bring it on.”

Lummus wins steer wrestling

Steer wrestler Will Lummus is making his seventh appearance at the NFR. But the horse he was riding, Swamper, was making his first appearance.

It didn’t matter to Lummus, who posted the fastest time of 3.7 seconds to claim the win in the steer wrestling go-round.

“My run felt great, I had a good steer. I knew I had a good steer,” Lummus said. “I got to ride a great horse. It came together.”

Lummus picked up $33,687 in earnings for his go-round win. He entered the NFR fourth in the standings, more than $50,000 out of first place.

Lummus is now second, trailing leader Dalton Massey by more than $16,000.

“Now we have to kind of defend (after the win),” Lummus said. “We’re just taking everything one day at a time, see what steers we draw, trust our horses and just do our jobs. That’s all we got to do. Hopefully, we’re at the top, but if we’re not, we’ll go home hopefully with a pocket full of money.”

Lummus finished 10th in the standings last year and shared the go-round win on the final night of the NFR He has won six events this year.

Over the summer, Lummus’ main horse got hurt, and he made the switch to Swamper. He’s used another horse, Shelby, who is also making her first NFR appearance. Lummus said he feels confident no matter what horse he’s on.

“We knew we had some badass horses,” Lummus said. “We didn’t know — we thought they would perform well here, but there’s still that little bit of inkling of (not knowing) what’s going to happen, and it came together. It really did. It was awesome. It’s just as big a win for the horses as it is for me.”

As Lummus celebrated, he noticed more than 80 text messages popping up on his phone. Some of them were from people involved at Northwest Mississippi Community College’s rodeo program, where Lummus is in his third season as a coach.

Lummus said he had a great college rodeo coach and wanted to look for any way to give back to the next generation of rodeo stars.

“The mental game in rodeo is the biggest part,” Lummus said. “If I can help those kids just a little learn the mental side of rodeo, and if they don’t rodeo for a living, they can use that in life, in their jobs or whatever. I’m just trying to mold young minds and make good people.”

Other go-round winners

— Tyler Wade, Terrell, Texas, and Wesley Thorp, Throckmorton, Texas, in team roping (3.7 seconds).

— Zeke Thurston, Big Valley, Alberta, Canada, in saddle bronc riding (86.5 points).

— Riley Webb, Denton, Texas, in tie-down roping (7.0 seconds).

— Hailey Kinsel, Cotulla, Texas, in barrel racing (13.38 seconds).

— Trey Kimzey, Strong City, Oklahoma, in bull riding (87.5 points).

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.