Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 2016)
SPORTS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS PENDLETON ROUND-UP O’Connell puts it all together Let ’er Buck! MAIN: Tim O’Connell, of Zwingle, Iowa, busts out of the chute for an 88-point saddle bronc ride Thursday at the Pendleton Round-Up. Staff photo by Kathy Aney TOP RIGHT: Clay Stremler of Fallon, Nev., rides Saturn Rocket for 82 points on Thursday at the Pendleton Round-Up. Staff photo by E.J. Harris BOTTOM RIGHT: Dakota Lewis scores 84.5 points to tie for the day with Roscoe Jarboe in bull riding Thursday at the Pendleton Round-Up. Staff photo by Kathy Aney Past Pendleton champion scores 88 to take lead in bareback riding By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian Just like putting together a winning ride, there are a lot of pieces that go into building a cham- pion bareback rider. Tim O’Connell would know, and now so do any of the fans lucky enough to snag a ticket for Thursday’s performance at the 106th Pendleton Round-Up after the PRCA world leader teamed with a bay horse from Sankey Pro Rodeo & Robinson Bulls for 88 points to move to the top of the bareback riding standings. Jed D McKinlay showed them how not to do it when he was bucked off Calgary Stampede’s Risque Elsie for a hard landing as the day’s fi rst competitor out of the chutes. A few good rides that scored in the 70s got the crowd warmed up, and the 24-year-old from Zwingle, Iowa brought them to their feet when he spurred the hard-bucking Sozo to the best score of the week. Sozo burst from the chute with a series of leaping kicks. O’Connell was in complete control as he worked his spurs along the length of her shoulders, and the pair fi nished the run by scattering the cowboys watching the action from the grass infi eld. “That’s a fantastic horse, I mean you can’t ask for them to do anything better than that,” said the 2014 Round-Up co-champion. “I remember for the fi rst six seconds she didn’t even hit the grass, and she was really up underneath herself. You know, when one does that here you can get yourself going right away and by the end of it you can be fl ashing out. And the judges love to see that at the end, so I was very grateful and very blessed.” The former Wisconsin state champion bull rider wrapped up his third-straight Wrangler National Finals berth long ago, but is hoping to win his fi rst bareback world title this December in Las Vegas. He said a big key to that will be not what he does in Pendleton in Saturday’s short-go, but on what he does come October when the regular season ends. “You know, October I probably won’t get on a bucking horse at all. I’ll probably pack my gear back up and leave it in a corner and kind of just take a break from rodeo, but get back in the grind of the workout and the physical disciplines that you have to go through,” he said. “I have See ROUGHSTOCK/3B Goodrich ropes into fi rst place in front of hometown crowd Stanfield native posts top time in second round of tie-down roping By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian Staff photo by Kathy Aney Jake Stanley and Bucky Campbell pull off a 5.5-second run Thursday in team roping at the Pendleton Round-Up. Brad Goodrich makes no secret about it: the Pendleton Round-Up is his favorite. He loves the prestige and the Old-West feel that rodeo gives off, but most of all, the Stanfi eld resident loves it because of the proximity to home. “I’ve told my wife that I’m going to rope here until they have to wheel me out on a stretcher,” Goodrich said. “I might be 80 years old and can’t win anything but I’ll still be roping here.” Competing in his 30th Round-Up during the second performance on Thursday, Goodrich, the 2004 Round-Up All-Around champion and 2008 tie-down champion, was able to put on a good performance for many family and friends that See TIMED EVENTS/2B Sports shorts Rapinoe kneels before US match COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Megan Rapinoe knelt during the national anthem before a U.S. women’s national team match against Thailand on Thursday night. Rapinoe fi rst knelt during the anthem on Sept. 4 before a game with her National Women’s Soccer League team, the Seattle Reign, to join San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who is not standing during the anthem to bring attention to racial inequality. After Thursday night’s game, Rapinoe which the United States won 9-0, U.S. Soccer issued a statement to ESPN that said in part: “As part of the privilege to repre- sent your country, we have an expectation that our players and coaches will stand and honor our fl ag while the National Anthem is played.” It was unclear whether Rapinoe would face any sanctions from the federation. “They were keeping my shoulder warm on the sideline. It tends to get tight. I was thankful to be out there.“ — Greg Ward Jr. University of Houston quarter- back after his two touchdowns and a pair of interception returns by the defense helped the No. 6 Cougars pull away for a 40-16 win over Cincinnati after trailing 16-12 early in the fourth quar- ter. Ward was 24 of 36 for 326 yards with two interceptions, and he ran 26 times for 73 yards. Forte scores three TDs to lead Jets to win over Bills ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Matt Forte scored three touchdowns and Ryan Fitzpatrick fi nally solved Rex Ryan’s defense, leading the New York Jets to a 37-31 victory over the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night. Forte’s 3-yard run put New York ahead 27-24 with 2:12 left in the third quarter. He sealed the win by patiently waiting for a seam to open before scampering into the end zone from 12 yards to put New York up 37-24 with 4:02 left in the fourth quarter. Forte fi nished with 100 yards rushing, and the offseason free-agent addition became the 13th New York player to score three rushing touchdowns in a game. Fitzpatrick fi nished 24 of 34 for 374 yards and a 5-yard touchdown pass to Eric Decker. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1955 — The formation of the United States Auto Club is completed and will oversee four major categories of auto races. 2001 — Jason Bohn shoots a 13-under 58 at Huron Oaks Country Club to win the Canadian Tour’s Bayer Championship by two strokes and go one below the best round ever shot in PGA Tour-sanctioned competi- tion. Bohn matches the 58 shot by Shigeki Maruyama of Japan in qualifying for the 2000 U.S. Open at the par-71 Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
