For Graham and a bit of round 9 reporting

Graham, here's some team roping reporting for you....
Sadly, I'm home from Vegas...its 2 am here (but only midnight in Vegas so I'm wide awake).

LAS VEGAS - The grandest stage in ProRodeo can often inspire greatness, and that certainly was the case in the team roping during Round 8 of the 50th Wrangler National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center. Travis Tryan and Cory Petska not only won the round, but also thrilled the 17,463 in attendance by tying the PRCA world record with a blistering 3.5-second time. Their mark ties the record shared by Blaine Linaweaver and Jory Levy (2001), Clay Tryan and Patrick Smith (2005) and Colter Todd and Cesar de la Cruz (2008).

It was the first round victory of the 10-day rodeo for Tryan and Petska and just their third check in the first eight performances, but they made it count in a major way.

"It's the coolest feeling I've ever had in my roping career," said Tryan, of Billings, Mont. "I got emotional after the run. I threw my hat, and I never do that. I had a feeling tonight that we were going to break the record, which I've never had before in my life, and can't explain why. When I was riding up to the box, I was thinking we were going to get the record. We had a great steer that stayed straight, maybe even stepped to the right a little, which helped us be fast because it helped my horse quicken up a little because he doesn't duck too hard, so it made things happen fast."

Petska is honored to have a share of the world record.

"I don't think it's set in yet that we just tied the world record," said Petska, of Lexington, Okla. "I got a little emotional at first. I was the same as Travis said, when we started to do the TV interview, I was a little worried that I would choke up. You own a piece of history."

Trevor Brazile and Patrick Smith continue to lead the Wrangler NFR average race and are on pace to crush the average record of 59.1 seconds for 10 head set by Jake Barnes and Clay O'Brien Cooper in 1994. They have a 41.4-second total through eight rounds and need only to finish the final two rounds in less than 17.6 seconds to lower the record mark.

Here is the link to that Run

Lindsay and Martha keep setting records and keep getting faster. Looks like they made another awesome run in the 9th round (will link tomorrow when its up). A 13.53 The world record is a 13.52 set by Brandie Halls (to correct any misleading info I might have posted earlier...). The 10th round will have the crowd on their feet cheering for the fastest time ever in the Thomas and Mack

Rod Hay and Dusty LaValley both grabbed cheques in the 9th round and Curtis Cassidy was empty handed with a NT. Deb Renger and Traci Dawson each took a barrel down according to Friday's results.

There are also some great interviews with round winners from the WPRA if you might like to read those...click here