BILLINGS — A head-spinning rodeo season has Helena cowboy Sam Petersen headed for the ride of his life.
The 22-year-old bareback rider has racked up nine regular season wins plus a pair of co-championships across North America this year. He's won from Canada to Casper to California, building a resume seating him at No. 2 in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association world standings.
Highlights include setting an arena record in Sheridan, Wyo., scoring 91 points on Sankey Pro Rodeo's Land of Fancy; turning in a massive 91-point ride in Lewiston, Idaho, and delivering an 89-point round at "The Daddy of 'em All" at Frontier Days in Cheyenne.
Watch impressive rides and hear what Sam told MTN Sports 4 years ago during his early rise:
Now, as Petersen gets his first crack at the National Finals Rodeo this December in Las Vegas, deuces are wild. The 22-year-old, who joined the PRCA in 2022, sits No. 2 in bareback’s world standings. To this point, his career earnings were less than $200,000; this season Petersen is already close to $222,000.
So, who is this kid?
According to his PRCA bio, the 5-foot-8, 165-pounder loves bow hunting and fly fishes whenever he can. He attended his first rodeo at age 5, rode calves at 8, mini-bulls at 12, and climbed on his first bucking horse in eighth grade.
Not surprisingly, Petersen went on to win the National High School Finals all-around championship in 2021 — the first Helena cowboy to do it.
Shortly after he told MTN Sports: "I guess I've always wanted to have that winner's mentality in me. I've always hated performing poorly.”
Now Petersen finds himself trailing only bareback leader Rocker Steiner in the money standings. As for those aforementioned deuces, Petersen has every chance to turn those into an ace at the NFR December 4-13 inside the electric Thomas and Mack Center.
