LAS VEGAS \u2014 Cooper James relied on consistency to qualify for the bull riding at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo presented by Teton Ridge.<\/p>\n
But the Resistol Rookie didn\u2019t have a PRORODEO event buckle, despite winning a few events \u2013 until Round 5 on Monday night.<\/p>\n
James put on a clinic atop Sutton Rodeos\u2019 Schott in the Dark for an 88.5-point ride before 16,862 fans at the Thomas & Mack Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is actually my first PRORODEO buckle that I\u2019ll ever win, and it being at the Finals is pretty cool,\u201d James said. \u201cI\u2019m so excited. I don\u2019t know when I\u2019m going to be able to go to sleep tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 19-year-old from Erdah, Utah, earned one of three qualified rides in the round as the fourth man out and held on to secure the victory.<\/p>\n
James said he started to get antsy watching the rest of the field try to knock him off. Josh Frost’s reride option\u2014executed after the performance ended\u2014added another delay.<\/p>\n
But when the dust settled, James showed everybody that he wasn\u2019t in Las Vegas as a spectator \u2013 he came to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, a lot of people get really worked up here and get jitters,\u201d James said. \u201cBut for me it\u2019s just another rodeo. A lot of people didn\u2019t believe in me all year, but I came to make a statement. I\u2019ve done that so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
James credited Schott in the Dark for allowing him to turn heads in front of a sellout crowd.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was awesome. He\u2019s a big muley, black, bald face,\u201d James said. \u201cI hadn\u2019t seen him much in person at all. But looking at the videos, I was excited to get on him and we made it work.\u201d<\/p>\n
James moved up to the top spot in the NFR Average with 340 points on four head and fourth in the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $266,438.<\/p>\n
As he walked out of the arena, James said he\u2019d wear his go-round buckle when he hops on another bull in Round 6 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAS VEGAS — Cooper James relied on consistency to qualify for the bull riding at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo presented by Teton Ridge. But the Resistol Rookie didn’t have a PRORODEO event buckle, despite winning a few events – until Round 5 on Monday night. James put on a clinic atop Sutton Rodeos’ Schott in the Dark for an 88.5-point ride before 16,862 fans at the Thomas & Mack Center. “This is actually my first PRORODEO buckle that I’ll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[52,2044,98],"tags":[2549,2552,2550,2551],"class_list":["post-7192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events-magazine","category-magazine","category-western-events-magazine","tag-cooper-james","tag-josh-frosts-reride-option","tag-resistol-rookie","tag-sutton-rodeos-schott-in-the-dark"],"yoast_head":"\n