New Role, New Pairing Puts Team Ropers on Fast Track to NFR Return

The last few seasons have been a bit of a change for Brye Crites.

In 2022, the Welch, Okla., cowboy made his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo as a team roping heeler, finishing No. 15 in the world. For many, that might serve as the launch point for a career. And for Crites, it was – just not in the way one might expect.

The following season, he flipped roles midway through the year, going from heeler to header. It’s a switch that has truly shifted everything.

“It’s a totally different mental game for me. Heeling, I didn’t care about nothing. I didn’t care what steer did, I didn’t care where we were at, it didn’t matter what was going on, you just heeled them when your guy turned them. And if he didn’t turn them, then you didn’t heel them. There was no stress at all in my heeling career,” Crites said. “With heading, everything relies on the header. If you do bad at the rodeo, it’s almost always the header’s fault. There’s a lot more thought processing, a lot more mental game.”

That competitive reshuffle has also led to a new vantage point in the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association World Standings.

Thanks to a first-year partnership with Ross Ashford, the duo are inside the top 10 of their respective standings following success during the Fourth of July run. Crites is eighth in the header standings with around $70,500 in earnings, while Ashford is seventh as a heeler with almost $75,500.

The pair won the Home of Champions Rodeo in Red Lodge, Mont., and the Killdeer (N.D.) Mountain Roundup, while also placing seventh in the average at the St. Paul (Ore.) Rodeo during Cowboy Christmas, adding almost $10,000 to their respective ledgers.

It’s a surge for two veterans looking to end personal Wrangler National Finals Rodeo droughts. Crites’ first appearance at NFR in 2022 remains his only trip to ProRodeo’s biggest stage. Similarly, Ashford made his lone trip in 2021. Both cowboys have been on the cusp of returning with top 20 finishes in the years since.

Aside from a few jackpot opportunities, the duo hadn’t roped much together prior to forming the tandem late last fall. Their instant chemistry in the arena has been a huge boost of confidence.

“He’s really good about setting the run up and handling the steers. He cares about the handle and wants to do a good job handling steers, so that’s nice,” Ashford, a Lott, Texas, native said. “I know if we get in the spot where we need to catch a steer, Brye is going to do his job.”

Reaching the NFR together would also mean making a little ProRodeo history. According to a 2019 Team Roping Journal article, only 10 PRCA competitors have ever made the NFR as both a header and heeler during their careers, meaning Crites would join an incredibly short list featuring Hall of Famers like Trevor Brazile, J.D. Yates and Speed Williams.

“That’s a really cool list of guys to be on, so that would be super cool,” Crites said with a laugh.

Between now and then, there’s still work to do. The duo has a fully loaded summer schedule ahead and hopes the recent momentum is the start of something big.

It might have been a winding road to form this tandem, but the goal is to see it end with an appearance in Las Vegas this December.

“This is for sure the most I’ve had won at this point (in the season). I don’t want to take it for granted and try to coast or anything now that we do have a good start. I hope we can just get out here and do our job,” Ashford said. “Hopefully we can get a lot of money won and not just be sneaking in. That would be great. That’s the plan right now – just keep winning.”

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