Headers Ketch Kelton, Kavis Drake Battle for Coveted NFR Spot as Season Heats Up

Team roping headers, Ketch Kelton and Kavis Drake are going head to head as they work to escape the bubble and enter the top 15 in the world standings.

Ketch Kelton is trying to qualify for his first NFR | Courtesy of Rodeo at Angelo State on Facebook

Every athlete in rodeo has their boots to the ground as the summer season heats up. Cowboys and cowgirls alike are looking to earn as much money as they can before the regular season ends in October. Team roping headers are no different as those outside of the top 15 have their work cut out for them. 

Kelton vs. Drake Standings Faceoff

Ketch Kelton is only in his second season in the ProRodeo arena, and the cowboy is making his mark as he sits at No. 18 in the world standings with $62,774. That’s a great position to be in heading into the last few months of the season. He is just about $2,000 out of the No. 15 position.

Kavis Drake doesn't have any years on Kelton as he enters his third year in ProRodeo where he is occupying that coveted cutoff spot at No. 15 with $64,614.

Kelton entered the arena hot this season, wanting to prove himself as he has yet to earn his first NFR qualification either. Right now, the two athletes are battling head to head with those on the bubble to sneak into that 15th spot. 

All eyes will be on them heading into the rest of the summer. Although the money is flowing now, things change fast during the rodeo season. For Drake, his biggest check of the season came early at RodeoHouston; his round one win marked him as a true competitor this year, as he failed to break the top 20 in previous seasons. 

Summer Rodeo Runs

While Drake has yet to win a rodeo this year, Kelton has had a better fate. He won over $4,000 at the Eastern Oregon Livestock Show thanks to his win in mid-June and he cashed in big again just weeks later at the Greeley Stampede, where his round two win won him another $4,442.

Kelton has had quite an impressive run this summer compared to his competitor. Two second-place finishes in a row at the Oakley Independence Day Rodeo and the Cody Stampede Rodeo earned him his biggest checks of the season, totaling nearly $15,000. It’s these big finishes that pushed him closer to that No. 15 spot. 

Drake has had less luck this summer, pulling just over $2,000 in early July at the Home Of Champions Rodeo, but the cowboy hasn’t seen anything significant since March, when he was pulling in cash prizes much easier. Clearly, Drake will have to up his game heading into the rest of the season if he has any hope of inching his way up in the world standings. 

The two 20-year-old cowboys may be similarly matched in the arena, (both having a fast time of 4.1 seconds) but with time running out, they’ll have to prove if either of them has what it takes to enter the Thomas & Mack arena as one of the top 15 team roping headers in the world.