FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, December 18, 2017<\/p>\n
STEPHENVILLE, Texas—Brody Cress couldn’t make the Dec. 15 commencement exercises that marked his graduation from Tarleton State University with a degree in agri-business.<\/p>\n
He was busy claiming the PRCA saddle bronc riding average title at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
“It’s been a great week,” he said. “Being able to compete against the top guys in the world, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”<\/p>\n
The only NFR saddle bronc rider with 10 qualified rides, Cress earned 86 points on his final ride Saturday for a total of 841.5, more than 77 points better than the event’s runner-up.<\/p>\n
“I came in here and did my job,” Cress said. “I took it one horse at a time, and rode ’em the best I could. It’s awesome to be able to walk away with an (NFR) average buckle.”<\/p>\n
Besides becoming a new graduate and winning an NFR crown, Cress almost added another title Saturday, finishing close behind 19-year-old Ryder Wright in the final world standings. Wright pocketed $284,938 in total earnings for the year while Cress won $282,287. Cress won more than $176,000 at the 10-day NFR.<\/p>\n
“I’m extremely happy,” Cress said, “but I expected to come here and do that. I’ve been riding good all year. I had a game plan coming in here, and I stuck to it.”<\/p>\n
A two-time College National Finals Rodeo qualifier, Cress, now a grad student in his final season of eligibility at Tarleton, leads the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Southwest Region heading into the spring season with the chance to earn a national title in Casper in June.<\/p>\n
“What I try to focus on is the process,” he said. “Doing the best I can every time I get on a bucking horse. It’s the same thing whether it’s in the practice pen, in a college rodeo or on the biggest stage of the world.”<\/p>\n
Tarleton, celebrating 100 years as founding member of The Texas A&M University System, provides a student-focused, value-driven educational experience marked by academic innovation and exemplary service, and dedicated to transforming students into tomorrow’s professional leaders. As a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) with campuses in Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Midlothian and online, Tarleton engages with its communities to provide real-world learning experiences and to address societal needs while maintaining its core values of tradition, integrity, civility, leadership, excellence and service.<\/p>\n
#<\/p>\n
Contact: Phil Riddle, News & Information Specialist Brody Cress couldn’t make the Dec. 15 commencement exercises that marked his graduation from Tarleton State University with a degree in agri-business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":28912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[423,425],"tags":[432,436,438,455],"class_list":["post-28911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics-research","category-campus-community","tag-alumni","tag-college-of-agriculture-natural-resources","tag-college-of-graduate-studies","tag-rodeo"],"acf":{"image":null},"author_meta":{"display_name":"keegan","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/keegan-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2021\/11\/image-1463-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Academics & Research<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Academics & Research<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Alumni<\/a>","College of Agriculture & Natural Resources<\/a>","College of Graduate Studies<\/a>","Rodeo<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Alumni<\/span>","College of Agriculture & Natural Resources<\/span>","College of Graduate Studies<\/span>","Rodeo<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 8 years ago","modified":"Updated 4 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on December 18, 2017","modified":"Updated on November 12, 2021"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on December 18, 2017 12:00 am","modified":"Updated on November 12, 2021 2:03 am"},"featured_img_caption":"Young man wearing a cowboy hat, smiling.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
817-484-4415
priddle@tarleton.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"