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Jill Moody wins average title, Sherry Cervi celebrates third World Title

Ted Harbin/WPRA

The look on Jill Moody’s face was pure shock.

In fact, she didn’t believe the report that she and Dolly had broken the 25-year-old barrel racing average record with their fantastic run at the Thomas & Mack Arena over the last 10 nights. But when she saw the figures, she was definitely pleased.

“It would’ve been an honor to have that arena record, but I’ll definitely take this,” said Moody of Letcher, SD, who rode TR Dashing Badger around the cloverleaf pattern 10 times in 138.26 seconds to win the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. “She is the picture of consistency, I’d say.”



Sherry Cervi of Marana, AZ, clinched the world championship Friday night, but she and Moody were in a tight race for the average title heading into the final go-round on Saturday night. In fact, Moody had just two-hundredths of a second lead over Cervi through nine rounds.

But Cervi – who won $120,000 at the NFR and finished the season with $299,893 – knocked over the third barrel in Round 10 to help catapult Moody to the NFR title.



“I was kind of pouting, because I was second and second and second,” she said, referring to her four round runner-up performances. “We pulled it off in the end.”

Charmayne James’ mark of 138.93 was set in 1986, so it was a nice twist for Moody, a two-time average champion, to surpass it.

“In 2008, I won the average here and the reserve world champion title,” said Moody, who credits the run to Dolly, a 10-year-old gray mare out of Easy Cash Bar by Mr. Illuminator. “Then last year, Dolly got sick and took the year off. To come back a year later after such a significant illness and win the average means a lot.”

Angie Meadors of Blanchard, OK, and two-time world champion Brittany Pozzi of Victoria, TX, split the final round victory with 13.67secons. It was Pozzi’s fifth paycheck at this year’s NFR but her first victory; Meadors’ three paychecks all came from round wins.