Ex-Rookie of the Year regains form, wins twice

Posted: Feb 14, 2012 2:27 PM by Scott Breen - Q2 Sports

Colorado Springs - After two years cut short by injury, bareback rider Ty Breuer's main goal is to stay healthy. He figures if he can do that, the winning will take care of itself, and based on his progress over the Feb. 10-12 weekend it is hard to fault his logic.
Breuer won at his home-state PRCA Championship Rodeo in Bismarck, N.D., and tied with Jordan Pelton - his fellow North Dakota 21-year-old - for the win at the Coors Pro Rodeo in Gillette, Wyo.
It made Breuer the only contestant to secure multiple wins from among the weekend's five PRCA rodeos and moved him from outside the top 50 in the world standings to 39th in his first two weeks back competing.
For Breuer, it was a sign that his injury problems may truly be behind him and he may be ready to build on a spectacular half-season in 2010 when he won the College National Finals Rodeo for Central Wyoming College (Riverton) and earned enough money ($25,231) to stand as the PRCA Resistol Bareback Riding Rookie of the Year.
His dream of qualifying for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo ended abruptly in late June of that year when a pickup horse stepped on his right leg and broke it. Breuer missed the rest of the 2010 season and only competed in 28 PRCA rodeos a year ago, dropping to 53rd in the world standings.
"I just got back," Breuer told the Bismarck Tribune. "It was a serious break. It was the second time I broke it. I had to have two surgeries on it. It feels good to win here. It will help me out in the standings."
Breuer rode Mosbrucker's Lucky Moon for 79 points to win in Bismarck by one point over Jet Price, of Buffalo, S.D. One time zone over, in Gillette, Breuer rode one of Powder River Rodeo's NFR horses, Big Prize, for 83 points to share the big prize with Pelton, who was 83 on Powder River's Deuces Wild.
• Best head-to-head matchup of the week? It would be hard to ignore the bareback riding at the Bell County PRCA Rodeo in Belton, Texas, where a couple of Wrangler NFR veterans put up 90-point scores to tie for the title. Chris Harris of Itasca, Texas, got his 90 on Andrews Rodeo's Original Sin - a horse he helped raise - and Casey Colletti of Pueblo, Colo., matched him on Roly Poly, another from the Andrews string.
Belton had the biggest purse of the weekend's five PRCA rodeos with $67,660 and its proximity to ongoing rodeos in San Antonio and San Angelo assured an influx of Wrangler NFR types. Apart from Harris and Colletti, other Vegas veterans who won at the Bell County Expo Center were team ropers Luke Brown and Martin Lucero (3.9 seconds), tie-down roper Tyson Durfey (8.2 seconds) and saddle bronc rider Sam Spreadborough, whose 82-point ride earned him a share of the title with Hambone Hammons. Biggest surprise of the weekend was the bull riding win by permit holder Chris McCombs of Duncan, Okla. (89 points). Visit www.prorodeo.com for complete results of all PRCA-sanctioned rodeos.

Information courtesy PRCA