J.P. Wickett of Sallisaw, Okla., is the steer roping representative in the PRCa. He’s also qualified for the Clem McSpadden National Finals Steer Roping 12 times in his career, including each of the last 11 years.

He’s finished among the very best in the game, even serving as the reserve world champion in 2006, when Trevor Brazile won his first steer roping gold buckle. But what does Wickett think is his greatest rodeo accomplishment?

“Making the National Finals,” Rodeo, said Wickett, who qualified as a header in 1998, roping with Brazile in the only season in which Brazile qualified for the NFR in heeling.

So why is that more special than that runner-up finish five years ago?

“It’s something I dreamed about as a kid,” Wickett said of the NFR. “I grew up in a rodeo family, and we were from eastern Oklahoma. There wasn’t an NFR qualifier from over there, so you were kind of alone, all by yourself.

“All I really cared about was making the National Finals. Getting to run those 10 steers in Las Vegas is still my biggest accomplishment.”