Joel Harris used sports phycology, manifestation and a little bit of luck to net the Farm-City Pro Rodeo win in Hermiston, OR, with an aggregate of 17.6 seconds on two head—winning $8,212.

The best in the game will agree that a positive viewpoint can bring good fortune, and Joel Harris seems to be living this model in real time in 2024. After a solid first run in the slack, Harris and his hauling group were talking about draws.

“My first run was a good average run and I felt like I had a chance to place in the average,” Harris said of his 9.8 second effort. “There was a calf in there, we’d talked about when we saw him in the pen, that he looked like the one to draw.”

Sports psychologists teach athletes to create a vision of success and focus on that until it becomes reality . . . something Harris seemed to bring forth in Hermiston.

“We talked about him all day,” Harris admitted, “and when we went up to see the draw that night, I had drawn him. Then, it was time to get nervous.”

Harris was riding his buddy Nick Achille’s horse Cricket, who worked great on the first calf, delivering needed confidence.

“Nick’s owned that horse a few years and generously has been letting me on him some,” Harris said. “He’s a great horse.”

With a good mount under him, and the draw he envisioned, Harris focused on not overcomplicating the issue.

“I just thought about staying behind the barrier, keeping the run simple,” Harris noted. “When you outdraw everybody, you don’t have to make big, crazy moves. Just go do your job.”

Driving aggressively from the box, Harris roped the calf quick, got on the ground and finished the job smoothly. The clock showed 7.8 seconds, tying for the fastest run of the round, but for a quick minute, it seemed all in vain as an announcement was made that the barrier had been broken.

From his spot atop Cricket, Harris looked back for clarification where brother Ty was adamantly saying no.

“I’m not sure what happened there,” Harris chuckled. “It was confusing for a second, I mean after making a run that was worth $5,000, I thought, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me.’”

Fortunately, it was a communication error and nothing more, allowing Harris to bring his two-run average to 17.6 seconds, which held on for a one-tenth victory over Chet Weitz. He added a good check from Omak the next day, making his weekend haul just under $10,000.

After finishing second in the Rookie of the Year race a season ago and coming close to a first time trip to the NFR, Harris has been in the conversation for the Finals most the season.

“It’s just another year of trying and working as hard as I can,” Harris said of the difference between last year and today. “It’s not a simple, short road to doing well. However much I work and improve this year, I want to do that much next year. And whatever I accomplish or don’t, I try to keep that long term mindset. Keep my long term goals at the forefront instead of focusing too much on the daily result because that will come and go.”

With just over $91,000 won, Harris is ranked 11th in the latest standings and has a $16,000 cushion on 15th as he seeks his first trip to the NFR. The season has been long and, with just over seven weeks left before the Top 15 is solidified, there’s still a lot of rodeo left.

“For me, the motivation is readily available,” Harris said surviving the long, summer grind. “I’m a few weeks away from boosting myself into a spot to make the Finals or a few weeks away from being out. If that doesn’t motivate you, what will?”

“You feel the grind more when you’re not doing well,” Harris admitted. “You’re thinking, ‘how do I fix this?’ And when you’re doing well, you’re excited to get to the next one.”

For Harris, family is a critical component of the positive mindset.

“I’ve got my wife [Makalyn] out here with me and getting to hang out with Ty, that’s a lot of fun for us,” he said. “It doesn’t feel like a grind as much when you’ve got good people around you.”

Much has been made of the bond of the Harris brothers and with good reason. Ty is a five-time qualifier to the NFR who has been sitting second in the standings for much of the season. The brothers share horses, ropes, wins and positive energy.

“We’re pretty much good for a split at every rodeo,” Harris joked. “We wanna have the best possible scenario for both of us so if that’s the rope, the horse, whatever creates the best situation for us both.”

Now, it’s an all out sprint to the finish line as the brothers hope to be sharing a ride to Vegas in December.

“Just try to keep it as simple as possible. There are lots of good rodeos left,” Harris said. “There’s really not a bad rodeo to go to anymore and this fourth quarter is as big as any other part of the year.”

With plenty of family cheering from the boys’ home in San Angelo, Texas, Harris relies on his dad’s wisdom to maintain the winning mindset.

“Of course, our dad is our biggest fan but he also helps us keep the mindset to do the best we can on every calf but to remember as big as we can make our sport out to be, it’s still just that, just a way to make a living,” Harris said. “Having that perspective really keeps you from becoming a different person depending on whether you win or lose.”

Mid-August Weekend Roundup

The August 12 standings showed a couple of guys punching their way into contention for a spot in Las Vegas for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (NFR) when things are decided on September 30.

Trevor Hale has been living in that no-man’s-land—inside the top 20 but never ‘safe’—since the end of June, continuing to win but just not quite enough to jump ahead of the ropers around him in the standings.

Hale did his best to break through using a huge victory at the Lea County Fair & Rodeo in Lovington, New Mexico, and a round win in Hermiston to win $11,285 and move to 15th in the standings.

2017 PRCA World Champion Marcos Costa has been climbing in recent weeks and banked just over $11,000 over the August 9-11 weekend to jump to 14th in the standings. Costa hasn’t roped in Vegas since 2021.

Elsewhere, world leader Shad Mayfield returned from a week hiatus and stuck another $5,628 onto his lead while Haven Meged used a good week at his Montana Circuit rodeos to shuffle back to third from fourth in the standings after earning $12,218.

The bubble watch is pretty much officially on now and the mark this week is held by Hale at $75,888. Bryce Derrer and Hunter Herrin are 16-17, trailing by just under $2,700 and $4,400, respectively.

Riley Webb wasn’t where he wanted to be in the NFR Playoff Series standings a month ago and the reigning World Champ has quickly made sure to remedy that situation.

Including his win on August 10 of the Cache County Fair & Rodeo in Logan, Utah, Webb has now won at least one Playoff Series rodeo every week going back to early July. His 7.2 second run in Logan banked $5,288 and has him sitting solidly inside the top five of the Playoff Standings.

West Smith scored a big win at the Sikeston (Missouri) Jaycees Bootheel Rodeo. The Arkansas roper tied two up in 18.3 seconds for the win, earning $4,702.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by CalfRoping.com (@calfropingdotcom)

At the Lawton (Oklahoma) Rangers Rodeo, rookie Garrett Elmore was in the drivers’ seat. Elmore stopped the clock in 19.8 seconds on two calves to earn the W. He earned $6,068.

What’s Next

True to the nature of summer rodeoing, next week is already here with the long rounds of the Caldwell Night Rodeo happening Sunday night, August 11.

That kicks off a busy week of NFR Playoff Series rodeos as the Northwest Run in now completely underway. Cowboys will be hustling from Caldwell, which has a short round on Saturday night, Aug 17, to Gooding, Idaho and Moses Lake, Washington and Canby, Oregon.

There’s also some good money to be won in Burley, Idaho along with a nice run in Montana at Kalispell, Circle, Baker and Billings while competitors will continue to jump back and forth to Canadian offerings in Cranbrook, British Columbia and Pincher Creek, Alberta.

PRCA World Standings as of August 12, 2024