Jared Keylon has two Prairie Circuit bareback riding championships on his resume, which, I believe, is quite distinguished.

He has yet to make that trip to Las Vegas as a qualifier to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. He’s been close, finishing 16th in the 2009 final world standings – only the top 15 in each event get to play on ProRodeo’s biggest stage. Injuries have kept him out of the hunt each of the last two seasons.

This season his mind is on the NFR, and he’s making a pretty good push at it. This weekend, he won rodeos in Gladewater, Texas; Merril, Wis.; and Garden City, Kan. He also placed in Medford, Wis., pocketing $5,212 in the process. That’s a nice weekend. All that money counts toward the world standings, where he was sitting 12th in the standings as of last Monday.

I suspect he’ll sit in that spot or even higher when the standings are released tomorrow. He also improved his spot as leader in the Prairie Circuit standings by $1,870, the money he won at the Beef Empire Days Rodeo in Garden City.

Keylon has worked very hard over the course of his six-year career. I hope it pays off for him this season and years to come.