SPORTS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016
1B
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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.
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