NFR ROUNDUP

EVENT RECAP

All week long, Jason Miller refused to look toward the future. The Wyoming steer wrestler wouldn't allow himself even a single peek at the world standings.

Miller didn't even realize he was the world champion until his first interview after the 10th and final go-round of the National Finals Rodeo on Saturday.

"You know, I never looked at the numbers or the money all week long," said Miller, who won his first title after winning the NFR aggregate, which paid $116,434 to raise his season total to $178,767.

"I didn't want to know because I didn't want to get caught up in it all. I just wanted to get a good start and do good in the round, just like all the other nights. Tonight, I didn't think about the average and, rather than safety up and do something dumb, I just got a good start and tried to win something in the round."

After a trip to Luke Branquinho's California ranch for training after Thanksgiving, Miller came to Las Vegas with high aspirations, despite being 13th in the standings.

He had one plan -- to place every night -- and one goal -- to win the coveted world title. He placed seven out of 10 nights.

"Every night I just wanted to get a good start and win something," Miller said. "(Tonight) I didn't make a great run, but I placed in the round, and that's what I needed to do in order to have a chance.

• BAREBACK RIDING -- Sure, the 10 rounds of the NFR are important. But sometimes they're not as important as all the other rodeos combined, and certainly not for Bobby Mote.

The Culver, Ore., bareback rider held off Justin McDaniel and a late-charging Will Lowe to win his second career title.

Mote led McDaniel by nearly $50,000 entering the NFR, but McDaniel's two go-round wins brought the 21-year-old cowboy closer and closer to the top.

Then there was Lowe, who, despite missing much of the season because of injury, climbed the NFR ladder with three go-round wins. With $116,214 in earnings at the NFR, Lowe shot up to second place in the world standings.

But in the end, Mote rode away with his first title since 2002.

"It's been five years in the making, so it feels good," he said. "Every year I've come here I've tried, and I ended up second again last year, so to finish it off (here) is great."

NFR WINNER: Will Lowe

GO-ROUND: Lowe

• TEAM ROPING -- When Walt Woodard won his last team roping heeler world title, Chad Masters was 10 months old.

Now both have gold buckles, a little payback for their partners.

Last season, Woodard's header, Clay Tryan, won the world championship, as did Masters' heeler, Allen Bach.

Now, all four can celebrate.

"I wish my partner could have won it, just like Chad wishes that," Woodard said of Tryan. "It's kind of bittersweet when you win it and your partner doesn't. But Chad and I were both in that situation last year. And this year we turned it around."

For the year, Woodard won $177,132 and Masters $183,102.

NFR WINNER: Jake Barnes (header), Clay O'Brien Cooper (heeler)

GO-ROUND: David Key and Kory Koontz

• SADDLE BRONC RIDING -- After winning round five, Taos Muncy said he was just lucky. He said the same after winning the seventh and ninth rounds, too.

After clinching the world title, Muncy said he was -- you guessed it -- just lucky.

The biggest break he received was in the last round when Cody DeMoss was bucked off. That allowed Muncy to flop spots in the aggregate standings, and the difference between second and fourth.

But clearly, the Muncy's got some skill.

The 20-year-old from Corona, N.M., won second place in the aggregate standings to overtake Cody Wright, taking home the gold buckle after winning the College National Finals Rodeo earlier this year.

Not only did Muncy overcome Wright, but his nerves.

"I was a nervous wreck every round," Muncy said. "I was just trying to hide it from everybody. I just didn't say anything."

NFR WINNER: Rod Hay

GO-ROUND: Billy Etbauer

• BARREL RACING -- Brittany Pozzi-Pharr might not have been the best on any single day of the NFR. But she sure was the best barrel racer at the end.

With incredible consistency -- placing eight times with every run between 13.86 and 14.15 seconds -- Pozzi-Pharr won the aggregate standings and the accompanying $42,043, which put her over the top for her first world championship.

Withstanding an amazing run by No. 2 finisher Lindsay Sears that included five go-round wins, Pozzi-Pharr chased away the demons of near-misses in 2005 and 2006, after she entered the NFR as the regular-season earnings leader.

"We (along with her horse, Stitch) may not have been the fastest runs," Pozzi-Pharr said after breaking the single-season earnings record with $259,713, "but we were definitely the most consistent."

NFR WINNER: Pozzi-Pharr

GO-ROUND: Molly Powell

• BULL RIDING -- Twenty-two years old and single, Wesley Silcox is now a world champion bull rider.

After finishing second in the world rankings to B.J. Schumacher last season, Silcox won his first world title, sealing the deal Saturday with a 91.5-point ride on Growney Brothers' Wolf Can Do in the 10th round.

"It's a dream come true," said Silcox, who won rounds two, nine and 10 and the aggregate title. "This is what I worked for. I was reserve champion last year, and I just kept trying to improve myself.

"I finally did it this year."

NFR WINNER: Silcox

GO-ROUND: Silcox

• CALF ROPING (Page 1C)

WORLD CHAMP: Trevor Brazile

NFR WINNER: Cody Ohl

GO-ROUND: Houston Hutto, Clint Cooper (tie)

JON GOLD/REVIEW-JOURNAL