Three years ago, Sage Kimzey reached the summit of high school basketball in Oklahoma, winning the state championship as a senior at Cheyenne H.S. Now, the 20-year-old finds himself atop a much different mountain.
Earning more than $300,000 in the season, Kimzey was named the PRCA bull-riding world champion and the first rookie to do so since Bill Kornell in 1963.
"I thought about that right afterward," Kimzey said (via Chron). "Somebody mentioned it, and I was just like, 'Man, that's pretty crazy.' To hit the pinnacle in a professional career, whatever it be, two years after graduating high school is quite an accomplishment."
In this his first year as a professional, Kimzey secured his first gold buckle and won the National Finals Rodeo average title in Las Vegas, tying an NFR record with four round wins.
Winning and breaking records in the process are the two things synonymous with his game.
"The record books are the holy grail for us, as far as rodeo athletes go," he added. "It doesn't get any better than having your name thrown in with some of the legends of the game."
Despite his young age, injuries remain a prevalent threat to his bull-riding career. Kimzey, however, was able to avoid them during his rookie campaign, enough to be named the most dominant bull rider in the state of Oklahoma.
"We're banged up all the time," Kimzey said. "That's just the nature of the sport. We're always nursing an injury, but I stayed relatively injury-free last year. And whenever I was a little down in the dumps, it seemed like I had an opportunity win."
Kimzey finished second in the first three rounds of the Super Series IV on Thursday.
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