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2009 WNFR Average Winner Announced!

For Doug and Diane Janke getting into a friendly family pool as to who would win the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo was a yearly tradition, but this year when no one else seemed enthusiastic, Doug decided to enter a Pro Fantasy Rodeo team online.  With Diane’s suggestion to make one change, he sent off his entry just minutes before the deadline.  And as Doug said, “Boy! Did it pay off!”   The Janke’s team, “Mustache Riders” proved to be the winning average team in Pro FantasyRodeo’s 7th season giving the couple a $20,000 paycheck for having picked the team that won the most money throughout the 10-day WNFR December 3-12, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nev.

As a long-time steer wrestler mainly entering rodeos in Kansas, Oklahoma and southeast Colorado, Doug knew many of the 2009 WNFR contestants both through competition and as the rodeo coach at Pratt Community College in Pratt, Kansas for the past 10 years.   The contestants on their winning team were bareback rider Bobby Mote, steer wrestler Stockton Graves, team ropers Nick Sartain and Kollin VonAhn, saddle bronc rider Taos Muncy, tie-down roper Cody Ohl, barrel racer Sherry Cervi and bull rider B.J. Schumacher.  Janke’s team won $719,885.69 to cinch first in the PFR average, and many like Sartain, VonAhn, Muncy and Graves had attended college in the Central Plains NIRA Region or were known personally by Doug. 

It was, however, due to a change that Diane suggested that made the big difference according to Doug. 

“I had picked my team, most of them people I knew when Diane went over it and told me I had an additional $30,000 I could spend of the $550,000 salary cap.  She suggested I change to B.J. Schumacher in the bull riding, and that sure helped—a difference between a $45,000+ payout compared to a $17,000+ one.  “Diane gets the credit, so I guess I’ll have to take her on a little trip,” Doug laughingly said, “with what’s left after paying the IRS and settling a few bills.”

Friends and family members wanted to get in on the action when the Janke team began to look solid in the average, but they told them it was too late.  Doug did, however, special order some ball caps detailed with “Mustache Riders” to give to friends so they wouldn’t feel completely left out.  “You can bet they’ll get a team next year,” he said.

Janke, a PRCA Gold Card member, said he had known about Pro FantasyRodeo since its beginning having read about it in the Prorodeo Sports News.  “It sure makes the finals exciting,” he said, “since I nearly had a heart attack when Cody Ohl’s calf got up in the 10th round, but then our barrel racer and bull rider went ahead and made good for us.”  “You’re glued to your seat, I can tell you that for sure,” he concluded.

True to many past Pro Fantasy Rodeo winners, Janke’s career as a teacher involved many years in secondary vocational agriculture and currently teaches college agriculture classes at Pratt.  Diane works for a computer software company specializing in educational software for K-8 students. Coincidentally, several past PFR winners were teachers and last year’s winner was a college student.

As for getting a 2010 PFR team, Janke said, “Go for it!  The odds of winning might seem long but you get to pick who you want on your team!” 

Pro Fantasy Rodeo paid out over $109,500 to the top eight average winners and the top 6 nightly round winners.  Log onto to www.profantasyrodeo.com to see the 2009 results.

ProFantasy Rodeo is the official fantasy sports game of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA)
and the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR).