CONROE — At mid-season, Trinity Valley Community College ranks fourth in the men’s team title race in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Southern Region.

After competing in the Nov. 8-10 Sam Houston State Rodeo in Conroe, Trinity Valley has earned 1,409 points. Sam Houston ranks No. 1 with 2,333.

In the women’s team race, Sam Houston is No. 1 with 1,632.5. Southwest Texas Junior College is in second place with 752.

The Sam Houston Rodeo was the fifth of 10 regional shows of the 2012-13 regular season.

In team roping, a TVCC cowboy named Lightning Nicolas Aguilera is ranked No.1 in the regional heading title race. TVCC’s Kolby Ryan Miller is in first place in the team roping heeling standings.

PRCA update

In 2008, the Texas Stampede was held at Dallas’ American Airlines Center and it was the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s last major show of the season.

But from 2009 through 2011, the Stampede was an independent rodeo and earnings did not count in the PRCA world title standings.

During the weekend of Nov. 9-10, the Stampede returned to the PRCA fold and the rodeo was conducted at the Allen Event Center in Allen. Earnings count toward the 2013 world standings.

The Texas Stampede drew many world class competitors including former Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier Kory Koontz of Sudan who tied for first in team roping. He and his partner Justin Van Davis each earned $3,762. Koontz and Davis split first place with Ryan Motes and Clayton Hass.

Jake Brown of Hillsboro earned $3,377 after winning the bareback riding title in dramatic fashion. He turned in a score of 89 aboard Scarlet’s Webb, a former National Finals bronc that is owned by the Classic Pro Rodeo Co.

According to the PRCA, Scarlet’s Web has been to the NFR the last five years and will make her sixth appearance next month. In nine rides aboard the horse in Las Vegas, cowboys have earned checks on every ride, including two round wins.

In tie-down roping, defending world champion Tuf Cooper and former NFR qualifier Clint Cooper tied for first with times of 7.7. The Cooper brothers, who both live in Decatur, shared the title with 2005 world all-around champion Ryan Jarrett and each cowboy earned $2,180.

In barrel racing, Fallon Taylor of Whitesboro won the title with a time of 13.14. Taylor is ranked first in the 2013 Women’s Professional Rodeo Association world standings with regular season earnings of $11,159.

In bull riding, Cooper Davis clinched the title with a 90 and earned $3,107. Other champions were Shayde Etherton, steer wrestling (3.8 for $2,419), and Tyrel Larsen and Cody Wright, saddle bronc riding (85 and $2,704 each).

Death of a founder

Bart Clennon, who was the last living member of the Cowboys Turtle Association, died on Nov. 4. He was 101.

Clennon passed away at his home in Tucson, Ariz., two hours and 40 minutes before his 102nd birthday.

The Cowboys Turtle Association, was founded in 1936 and it was the forerunner of the PRCA.

Clennon was a South Dakota saddle bronc rider who began his career in 1928. He won popular rodeos in St. Paul, Ore., Deadwood, S.D., and Red Bluff, Calif., according to the PRCA. Perhaps his greatest victory came in 1945 at Madison Square Garden, when they had 50 performances and 13 go-rounds.

NFR scheduled

The 2012 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo is scheduled for Dec. 6-15 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The total purse is $6,125,000. Each round winner in each single event will receive $18,257. The average winner in each event will earn $46,820.

Brett Hoffman, a Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame member, has written a rodeo column for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram during the past 25 years. Email him at brett@myrodeoinsider.com.