SPORTS
Friday, September 15, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 3B
ROUND-UP: Only two bareback riders went over 80 points
Continued from 1B
Rodeo’s Hot Rod for 84.5
points to jump into the top
spot for the long round.
“It felt really good,” Frost
said of his ride. “To be leading
and leaving here knowing I’m
going to make the short round
and come back and get a
chance to ride for some more
points is great. It’d mean a lot
to win this rodeo, it’s one I’ve
always wanted to win.”
Frost came to Pendleton
from the New Mexico State
Fair & Rodeo in Albuquerque
where he earned 84 points.
He will now drive down to
the Dixie Roundup Rodeo in
St. George, Utah, on Friday
before making it back for
Saturday’s short round. He
last made the short round at
the Round-Up in 2013.
“Unless they get extremely
carried away tomorrow I’m
going to be able to make
it back,” Frost joked, “and
that’s exciting.”
Behind Frost on Thursday,
the bull riders put on a fun
show for the crowd. The
trio of Ruger Piva (Challis,
Idaho), Chase Robbins
(Marsing, Idaho) and Riley
Blankenship (Kildeer, North
Dakota) all scored 82.5 points
to go into a tie for third place
and Ty Wallace (Collbran,
Colorado) scored 81.5 points
to jump into the money.
But as good of a day as the
bull riders had, the bareback
and bronc riders left the fans
wanting more. Just one bronc
rider scored at least an 80
point ride, and that was Heath
DeMoss (Heflin, Louisiana)
with 80 points on Sankey’s
Sacred Mountain. Other than
that, 10 riders combined for
an average score of 74.25 and
there were nine buck-offs.
“There was some bucking
ponies, no doubt about it,”
DeMoss said. “It’s all about
the match ups and who has
what, who’s style fits what
horse.”
DeMoss had one of the
good match ups, as Sacred
Mountain was a horse he was
eyeballing for awhile on the
circuit.
“She was pretty quick
coming
around
there,”
DeMoss said of the ride. “I’ve
been messing with a groin
(injury) lately so to keep up
was a heck of a feat for me.”
He was happy with his
ride and also happy that he
came out on top of his older
brother, Cody, who finished
with 77 points, saying “of of
course, I like (Cody) but I
love me.”
Bareback riders had nearly
as much trouble, with just two
riders going over 80 points
and the rest of the 12 qualified
rides pulling an average score
of 74.71. Orin Larsen took the
top ride of the day with 82.5
points on Brookman Rodeo’s
Lunatic Clown, putting him
in third place for the long
round.
“It’s a great privilege to
be a part of Pendleton and to
hopefully make it back to the
short round is a dream come
true,” Larsen said. “I hope I
can capitalize on Saturday.”
In the timed events, it
was another frustrating day
for the cowboys as the stock
did not cooperate enough to
allow many qualified runs on
Thursday.
Just 3 of 11 bulldoggers,
3 of 10 calf ropers, 3 of 10
steer ropers and 7 of 11 team
ropers turned in times, instead
watching the stock make
hard turns and other unusual
actions once they hit the
grass infield running —or in
bulldogger Coltin Hill’s case
— miss the steer and then
have the animal run over you.
Pendleton’s own Tom
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Steer roper Jason Stewart, of Heppner, puts in a 13.1-second run Thursday at the
Pendleton Round-Up for the fastest run of the day along with Quay Howard.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Orin Larsen OF Inglis, Manitoba, Canada, rides Lunatic
Clown for 82.5 points on Thursday in bareback riding at
the Pendleton Round-Up.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Brad Goodrich of Hermiston ropes his calf on 10.7 sec-
onds on Thursday in tie-down roping.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Saddle bronc rider Joe Frost, of Randlett, Utah, rides Fire Dog to an 89.5-point ride
Thursday at the Pendleton Round-Up for high score of the day.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Ross Mosher of Augusta, Montana, pulls down a
7.5-second run Thursday in bulldogging
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Chase Robbins of Marsing, Idaho, rides Corona Time
for 82.5 points in bull riding Thursday.
Sorey was one of the steer
ropers that had fits on
Thursday. He was one of
the few that actually got the
rope around his steers’ horns
but after getting yanked to
the ground Sorey’s trip rope
didn’t stay down and his steer
got up.
“I drew what I thought was
a pretty good steer,” Sorey
said. “He came off to the left
pretty hard, had him roped
real good — he just kind of
darted away from me just as
everything come tight.”
Two of the three steer
ropers that did qualify were
Heppner’s Jason Stewart
and Quay Howard (Canyon,
Texas) who both put up 13.1
seconds on back-to-back
turns. Their times jumped
them both into a tie for second
place in the second round.
In calf roping, Hermiston’s
Brad Goodrich was the
10th-and-final roper to go
and turned in the fastest time
of 10.7 seconds to move into
sixth place in the second
round. Jared Parke (Gooding,
Idaho), a former Blue Moun-
tain Community College
rodeo team member, had the
second-fastest time of the day
at 12.6 seconds.
Team roping saw two fast
times Thursday with Blake
Teixira (Tres Pinos, Cali-
fornia) and Monty Joe Petska
(Turlock, California) roping in
5.5 seconds and Jake Stanley
(Hermiston) and Brent Falon
(Yakima, Washington) roping
in 5.8 seconds. The times put
the teams into second and
sixth place for the second
round respectively, while
Stanley and Falon moved into
first place in the average with
13.7 seconds on two head.
Miles Switzer nearly
turned in the second-fastest
time of the week in steer
wrestling as he jumped off his
horse and flipped the steer in
5.1 seconds. But the time was
short-lived as Switzer broke
the barrier and was handed
a 10 second penalty. Ross
Mosher (Augusta, Montana)
ended up with the fastest time
of the three on Thursday with
7.5 seconds.
The final day of the long
round picks up Friday at 1:15
p.m.
————
Pendleton Round-Up
Standings through Thursday
Bareback riding
First round leaders: 1. Jake Vold, 85 points
on Wayne Vold Rodeo’s Dancing Queen; 2.
Shane O’Connell, 83; 3. Orin Larsen, 82.5; 4.
Tim O’Connell, 80.5; 5. (tie) Justin Miller and
Caleb Bennett, 80 each.
Steer wrestling
First round: 1. Cody Cabral, 5.3 seconds,
$3,849; 2. (tie) Kody Dollery and Nick Guy, 5.7,
$3,096 each; 4. John Green, 6.5, $2,343; 5.
(tie) Cameron Morman and Josh Peek, 6.6,
$1,590 each; 7. Colin Wolfe, 6.8, $837; 8. Dirk
Tavenner, 7.1, $335. Second round leaders: 1.
Tom Lewis, 5.0 seconds; 2. Timmy Sparing,
5.4; 3. Cody Kroul, 5.5; 4. Clayton Hass, 5.7;
5. Cody Cabral, 6.2; 6. (tie) Travis Taruscio and
Blaine Jones, 6.4 each. Average leaders: 1.
Cody Cabral, 11.5 seconds on two head; 2.
Tom Lewis, 12.5; 3. Clayton Hass, 13.8; 4.
Blaine Jones, 14.3; 5. Nick Guy, 14.5; 6. J.D.
Struxness, 14.9.
Team roping
First round: 1. Clayton Hass/John Rob-
ertson, 5.6 seconds, $4,294 each; 2. Tyler
Milligan/Shank Edwards, 5.7, $3,734; 3. Riley
Minor/Brady Minor, 6.1, $3,174; 4. Austin
Stafford/Dayton Stafford, 6.2, $2,613; 5. Jes-
se Northrop/Kurtis Barry, 6.3, $2,053; 6. David
Temple/Tee Jay Brown, 6.4, $1,493; 7. Justin
Farber/Garrett Busby, 6.7, $933; 8. (tie) Rhett
Anderson/Brady Ramone, Bryce Palmer/Bo
Patzke and Logan Olson/Kyle Lockett, 6.8,
$124 each. Second round leaders: 1. Jason
Stewart/Bucky Campbell, 5.4 seconds; 2.
Blake Teixeira/Monty Joe Petska, 5.5; 3. Erich
Rogers/Cory Petska, 5.6; 4. (tie) Brandon
Beers/Cesar de la Cruz and Chad Masters/
Travis Graves, 5.7 each; 6. Jake Stanley/
Brent Falon, 5.8. Average leaders: 1. Jake
Stanley/Brent Falon, 13.7 seconds on two
head; 2. Riley Minor/Brady Minor, 13.8; 3.
Chad Masters/Travis Graves, 14.2; 4. Richard
Eiguren/Chase Hansen, 14.4; 5. McKennan
Buckner/Bill Justus, 14.7; 6. Brett Sheehan/
Jared Parke, 15.2.
Saddle bronc riding
First round leaders: 1. Hardy Braden, 85
points on Sankey Pro Rodeo & Robinson
Bulls’ Sheridan Wyo’s Tango; 2. Brody Cress,
83; 3. Sterling Crawley, 82.5; 4. Isaac Diaz,
82; 5. Clay Elliott, 81.5; 6. Cort Scheer, 81.
Tie-down roping
First round: 1. J.C. Malone, 8.5 seconds,
$3,597; 2. Tuf Cooper, 8.7, $3,128; 3. Hunter
Herrin, 9.6, $2,659; 4. Shane Hanchey, 9.9,
$2,190; 5. (tie) Jake Pratt and Chad Finley,
10.3, $1,486 each; 7. Justin Smith, 10.6, $782;
8. Jordan Ketscher, 10.7, $313. Second round
leaders: 1. Alwin Bouchard, 9.3 seconds; 2.
Shane Hanchey, 9.5; 3. Trevor Brazile, 9.7; 4.
Matt Shiozawa, 10.0; 5. Jason Schaffer, 10.4;
6. Brad Goodrich, 10.7. Average leaders: 1.
Shane Hanchey, 19.4 seconds on two head;
2. Hunter Herrin, 20.8; 3. Ace Slone, 22.8; 4.
Matt Shiozawa, 22.9; 5. Brad Goodrich, 23.0;
6. Jake Pratt, 23.1.
Barrel racing
First round leaders: 1. Kimmie Wall, 28.54
seconds; 2. Sydni Blanchard, 28.81; 3. Jackie
Ganter, 28.91; 4. Ericka Nelson, 28.95; 5.
Courtney Frazier, 28.96; 6. Jody Tucker, 28.97.
Steer roping
First round: 1. Tuf Cooper, 13.1 seconds,
$3,769; 2. Shay Good, 13.8, $3,277; 3. Trevor
Brazile, 14.0, $2,786; 4. Will Gasperson, 14.8,
$2,294; 5. Tim Tillard, 15.4, $1,802; 6. Dave
Sedar, 15.6, $1,311; 7. Roger Branch, 15.8,
$819; 8. Shorty Garten, 15.9, $328. Second
round leaders: 1. Trevor Brazile, 12.7 seconds;
2. (tie) Quay Howard and Jason Stewart, 13.1
each; 4. Shay Good, 13.3; 5. Cody Lee, 13.5;
6. Bill Benson, 14.5. Average leaders: 1. Trevor
Brazile, 26.7 seconds on two head; 2. Shay
Good, 27.1; 3. Will Gasperson, 33.2; 4. Todd
Dickson, 36.7; 5. Gabe Richardson, 38.5; 6.
Scott Stickley, 39.4.
Bull riding
First round leaders: 1. Joe Frost, 84.5 points
on Korkow Rodeos’ Fire Dog; 2. Steve Wool-
sey, 84; 3. (tie) Ruger Piva, Elliot Jacoby, Riley
Blankenship and Chase Robbins, 82.5 each.
BARREL RACING: Round-Up rookie Jessi Cronquist had third fastest time of the day
Continued from 1B
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Jami Erwert, of Stanfield, competes in barrel racing
Thursday at the Pendleton Round-Up.
spots up for grabs in the
championships the margin
for error is nonexistent. So
riders have to be confident
in their preparation, which is
something Hays questioned
near the end of her ride.
“I thought it was going
to be faster but I think he
just ran out of air on the way
home,” she said.
Despite this Hays felt
good about her ride. It’s
only her second year at the
Round-Up, but with the
stadium being a short drive
away she’s familiar with
the one-of-a-kind set up and
knows what it takes to be
successful in this arena.
“It’s a lot of long trotting,
exercising,” Hays described
as her preparation for the
rodeo. “I go out in this flat
area and sprint him — just try
to get him in the best shape. I
guess he could have been in a
little better shape.”
Preparing for the track
here is challenging. If a
cowgirl that is just 30 miles
away has a tough time
getting her horse in shape,
Round-Up rookies have
another thing coming.
Jessi Cronquist was one
of those rookies. The Plain
City, Utah, native made her
first trip to Pendleton in style,
as she recorded the third
fastest time of the day: 29.5
seconds. It was the shortest
and longest 29.5 seconds of
her life.
“That was awesome,”
where some of the first words
out of Cronquist’s mouth
following her ride.
“That was an adrenaline
rush times 10,” she added. “It
just kept going and going.”
Cronquist ride was as
picturesque as it could be.
Her young horse stretched out
across the grass going from
barrel to barrel with strides
that put the six-year-old up
there with the veterans. If
you ask Cronquist, though, it
was really just a shot in the
dark.
“You don’t know what to
expect,” she said. “You don’t
know what to do, you don’t
know how to train for it. You
just go out there and give it
hell.”
To prepare for Pendleton,
Cronquist had the same chal-
lenges as Hays: she had to
get her horse into Round-Up
riding shape.
“I set barrels up in random
fields,” Cronquist said. “I set
one up in an arena, one out in
a field, one up in the middle
of a trailer, and just made
horse start hunting barrels.”
Both Hays and Cronquist
will have to sweat out the
final day of the long go to see
if their performances were
good enough to return once
again to the most extraordi-
nary barrel racing track in
rodeo.
———
Contact Alexis at aman-
sanarez@eastoregonian.com
or 541-564-4542. Follow her