ARLINGTON, Texas – At the 2022 PBR Global Cup USA, presented by Monster Energy, Team USA Eagles coach Ross Coleman did not need his captain to be a rah-rah kind of bull rider who could drop lines of inspiration in the locker room.
That is not what Coleman needed for leadership.
Coleman just wanted a rider who would lead by example, lighting up the scoreboard to motivate his teammates not to let go of their bull rope until their heads hit the ground and to be a go-to guy for the red, white and blue in a time of need.
The first-time coach got all that and then some from world No. 1 bull rider Daylon Swearingen on Saturday night.
Swearingen got the Eagles’ momentum started with a sensational 90.5-point ride on Body Count in Round 1. He then clinched the Americans their second consecutive Global Cup victory and third in the past five years with a 91.5-point ride on Diddy Wa Diddy in the Bonus Round.
“Amazing,” Coleman said following the event. “Daylon was outstanding, as always. Two really, really rank bulls into his hand, which is a good problem that we liked. I’m telling you, those two bulls were buckers, too. They weren’t just a day off. I was really, really proud of him, and I’m so pumped to have him on the team because he does exactly what he says: lets the riding do the talking.”
The mild-mannered Swearingen won the individual aggregate title and a $15,000 bonus with his 2-for-2 performance. He helped the Team USA Eagles defeat Brazil by 93.25 points in the final event standings as the two international bull riding powers went back-and-forth all night long.
Team USA (6-for-7) was near perfect on their home soil.
If Swearingen had bucked off Diddy Wa Diddy, there could have been an opportunity for Brazil to snatch the Global Cup title out of the Americans’ hands after they had essentially remained in the lead all night long except for a brief moment in Round 1.
“I knew just that I had to ride him,” Swearingen said. “My rope kind of slid over at the end, but I just kept gritting it out because it’s real hard when those ropes slide over. And it all worked out.
“I feel like we all knew our job before the get-go, so nothing changed, because I had to ride that bull. That was my job when I climbed down in there. You’ve got to ride him.”
Teammate Mason Taylor added, “That is why he is the captain of Team USA. He is the man when it comes to bulls that are like that. All we needed him to do was go ahead and do it. We all knew he could do it, and he did.”
Oddly enough, a week-and-a-half ago, Swearingen was not even on the Team USA Eagles squad.
It was not until Boudreaux Campbell informed Coleman that he would be unable to compete at the Global Cup because of an injury to his riding hand that Coleman elected to put Swearingen on his five-man roster.
Coleman then told Swearingen this past Monday not only was he going to replace Campbell, but he was also going to serve as the Team Captain.
“I was actually out hunting hogs, and he called me and said, ‘Hey, I just want to let you know,’” Swearingen said. “I was like, ‘Oh boy. Oh boy!’”
Swearingen’s 90.5-point ride on Body Count was the first qualified ride of the competition inside AT&T Stadium. It immediately sent a message to the other five teams and his teammates that Team USA was going to be all business on Saturday night.
Taylor followed up Swearingen’s ride with 88.25 points on Red Bones as the Americans quickly pushed the favored Brazilians into the hunter role.
2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco briefly put Brazil into the lead with an 87-point ride on Night Hawk only for 2019 Rookie of the Year Dalton Kasel to answer the bell with a sensational and PBR Global Cup record 92-point ride on Moonlight Party to put the Americans in front for good.
Kasel admitted he was empowered by his teammates’ early success and converted that energy into 8 seconds against Gene Owen’s stout bovine.
“I knew Daylon made a really, really good bull ride, and Mason made a good bull ride, and it fired me up,” Kasel said. “Those are both my buddies even outside of this team deal. I knew I had a bull to do the same thing, and I am glad it all worked out for us.”
Swearingen may have led the Eagles in qualified rides, but he ultimately gave all the credit to his teammates.
Every single member of the Eagles made the 8-second whistle at least one time inside AT&T Stadium.
This Global Cup victory for the Eagles was a true win thanks to the efforts of Swearingen, Kasel, Taylor, Chase Dougherty and Stetson Wright.
“We are a young team. We’re all the same age, and we all could really relate to each other,” Swearingen concluded. “We’ve all grown up together, pushing each other through all the ranks. It’s really cool.”
Article Courtesy of PBR
Photo By: Andy Watson/ Bull Stock Media