2005 All-Around

Ryan Jarrett

2005 World All-Around Champion

Memo to the ProRodeo world: There's a new sheriff in town. All-around standout Ryan Jarrett, in just his second season in the PRCA, put together a stellar season that ended with his first all-around world title.

Jarrett (Summerville, Ga.) combined his exploits in tie-down roping and bulldogging to become the second-youngest all-around world champion in PRCA history and end Trevor Brazile's run of consecutive crowns at three. Only the legendary Ty Murray was a younger all-around champ, who was 20 when he won his first of a record seven all-around titles in 1989.

"It's quite an accomplishment to break his streak," Jarrett said of Brazile. "I've got some big shoes to fill. He's a man of his own, and is one of the greatest guys ever. This means a bunch, and it's really something. It was a lot of hard work, for sure."

Despite his age, Jarrett didn't shock too many people by his performance in Las Vegas and with his ascension to the top of the ProRodeo ranks. After all, he had been red-hot in the fall and was the only two-event competitor at the Thomas & Mack Center after qualifying in steer wrestling and tie-down roping.

He had a simple plan when he arrived in Las Vegas.

"When I left my buddy's house in Oklahoma, I told him I'd like to win $100,000 and whatever happens after that, happens," Jarrett said.


	Jarrett finished fourth in the bulldogging average at 55.3 seconds on 10 head and won a share of first place with his 3.4-second run in Round 5.

Jarrett not only excelled in tie-down roping, he won the event's Wrangler National Finals Rodeo average title with a total time of 89 seconds on 10 head. He didn't win a round, but placed in six out of 10 rounds to earn $80,517.

He finished fifth in the first and fourth rounds, in a tie for second in the sixth round, second in the seventh round, fourth in the eighth round and sixth in the final round en route to the average victory.

Combine that with the $34,201 he won in steer wrestling, and the all-around title was his.

Jarrett came into the Wrangler NFR nearly $27,000 behind Brazile, but quickly made up ground and took over the all-around lead for good after Round 7. His title was a likelihood, but not an assurance. He still had to work for it, and he did exactly that.

"It looks easy up there from the 10th row, but it isn't, I promise you," Jarrett said of his victory.


	Jarrett not only excelled in tie-down roping, he won the event's Wrangler National Finals Rodeo average title with a total time of 89 seconds on 10 head.

There was no doubt Jarrett knew tie-down roping would be the key to his run for the title.

"I just tried to score well and be at the barrier and get it around their necks," Jarrett said. "I just came here to rope like I rope, not to rope for the go-rounds. That is what I tried to do. That average buckle is icing on the cake."

Jarrett was strong in tie-down roping and didn't exactly struggle in bulldogging. Jarrett finished fourth in the average at 55.3 seconds on 10 head and won a share of first place with his 3.4-second run in Round 5.

Jarrett finished the year with $263,665, more than $50,000 ahead of second-place Lee Graves, who dominated steer wrestling en route to his first Wrangler NFR average and world titles. Brazile, who was hampered by the fact that he did not qualify for the Wrangler NFR in team roping as he had the previous year, finished third with $197,400 after earning just $30,004 in tie-down roping.

"I felt like I roped well at the Finals, but just didn't win as much as I would have liked to," Brazile said. "I probably learned more from this Finals and from this year than any other year. Ryan roped and bulldogged great the whole week and all fall. My hat's off to Ryan. He won more money than anybody else this year and was the best all-around cowboy for 2005."

Brazile placed in just four rounds and had three no-times at this year's Wrangler NFR and was kept busy after team roping header Jake Barnes went down with a thumb injury. Brazile, riding a horse borrowed from Travis Tryan, filled in for Barnes and roped with heeler Kory Koontz, who was in contention for a world title, at Koontz's request.


	"When I left my buddy's house in Oklahoma, I told him I'd like to win $100,000 and whatever happens after that, happens," Jarrett said.

Brazile and Koontz won back-to-back rounds in Round 6 and 7, tying the then-arena record of 3.7 seconds in the sixth round. The money Brazile earned in team roping ($36,220) could not count toward his world standings total, but because of Brazile's help, Koontz finished third in the final Jack Daniel's World Standings.

Graves placed in each of the first nine rounds, a Wrangler NFR steer wrestling record, and won back-to-back rounds during the fifth and sixth performances. Amazingly, his slowest time during the 10 days was 4.9 seconds. Graves earned an event record $126,412 at the Wrangler NFR, which also set a PRCA record for largest single-event winnings.

The 34-year-old Canadian finished the season with a steer wrestling record $206,415, becoming the first bulldogger in PRCA history to eclipse the $200,000 mark. Graves won the world title on the same horse, 19-year-old Willie, that Rope Myers rode to the 2001 world title. Graves' 39.2-second average total marked just the second time a PRCA bulldogger finished with a total time of less than 40 seconds, along with Myers' record 37.4-second total from 2001.

But in the end, it was Jarrett who emerged victorious and at the top of the PRCA heap. He is now automatically one of ProRodeo's most esteemed athletes, a visible representation of the best of the best in the sport.

The reality of Jarrett's victory, and the fact that it has come so early in his career, will take some time to sink into the 21-year-old's head.

"I didn't know where I'd be," Jarrett said. "I knew I'd be rodeoing, but I didn't know I'd be at the Thomas & Mack on Sunday up there on stage."