World Champion Team Ropers Have Swapped Partners
Clay Smith, who won the PRCA World Team Roping Header Championship in 2018 and 2019, currently faces heeler Jake Long, who has qualified 11 times for the Wrangler Rodeo National Finals.
Clay Tryan, a three-time PRCA World Team Heading Champion in 2005, 2013-14, has currently reunited with Jade Corkill. Corkill teamed with Tryan from 2013 to 2015 and again in 2017. In 2013 and 2014 Corkill won the PRCA World Team Roping Heeler Championship.
In 2020-2021, Tryan joined Long, and each season, they both qualified for the NFR.
For most of the 2019 season through May of the 2022 season, Smith and Corkill were together. Before joining forces with Corkill in 2019, Smith caught some fish with Long.
Jake and I recently started bonding, and we know each other, Smith said. Jake and I are supposed to bring home the world titles. Starting in Reno, Jake and I will be roping.
The Reno Rodeo takes place June 17-25.
Long is second and Smith is 10th in the PRCA | RAM world ranking.
In the world rankings, Tryan is second, while Corkill is eleventh. 19 times, Tryan has qualified for the NFR.
Tryan added: Things happen in this business and Jade and I are back. Doing the NFR is the initial goal. You should enjoy your summer and allow yourself a chance as it draws to a close. We return to Reno on Saturday. I hope we can be successful there. It’s a sizeable rodeo, one of the biggest we have all year.
From June 8-11 in Weatherford, Texas, Tryan and Corkill resumed bonding at the Parker County Sheriff’s Posse Frontier Days and PRCA Rodeo.
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