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SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 2018
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FARM-CITY PRO RODEO, THIRD PERFORMANCE
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Ryan Bothum, of Hermiston, pulls down his steer in 5.1 second in steer wrestling Friday at the Farm-City Pro Rodeo in Hermiston. Bothum’s time was fifth-best on the night.
Knowles flies to the top
Heppner’s Blake Knowles moves atop the steer wrestling leaderboard
By ERIC SINGER & BRETT KANE
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — Blake Knowles has made a name
for himself as one of the top bulldoggers on the profes-
sional rodeo circuit where he has won and competed
well at some of the biggest rodeos around.
But the Heppner native always enjoys coming back
to home in Eastern Oregon for the Farm-City Pro
Rodeo every year. Knowles made his runs in Hermis-
ton on Friday and started off his day as well as he could
have hoped with a 3.4-second run to jump to the top
of the leaderboard for the first round. Later during Fri-
day evening’s performance, Knowles was the last of the
14 competitors to make the run. And as he got set to
go, announcer Randy Corley set the scene and built up
the energy prior to the ride, getting the crowd cheering
behind the hometown boy.
“I try to block it out as far as fundamentally to go
make a steer wrestling run whether I’m at my house
practicing or right here in front of my hometown,”
Knowles said. “However, I like to feed off the crowd
a little bit ... I like to get pumped up a little and that
adrenaline gets going and you can do a lot on adrena-
line. I try to use a little of it, you know, but don’t overdo
it and make a stupid mistake.”
As Knowles finally got settled with his horse, he
nodded his head and the steer started to sprint out of the
chute, but it didn’t get too far before Knowles wrestled
it to the ground in a fast 4.0 seconds. The time wasn’t
good enough for the $100 nightly bonus or the top time
of the round, but it was fast enough to jump Knowles
into the lead of the average with a time of 7.9 on two
head.
After the run, Knowles acknowledged he was a bit
lucky for the time because the steer nearly got away
from him.
“I had a steer tonight that I watched a good friend
of mine, Sterling Lambert, run this afternoon and he
(Lambert) missed him,” Knowles said. “Sterling’s a
real good competitor and dang sure knows what he’s
doing, so I knew I had my work cut out for me. The
steer’s not bad to throw down, but he stops. And Herm-
iston’s set up to go fast, so you gotta end up being able
to see a little bit and catch one standing still out there,
and that makes it a little tougher.
“But man, I was fortunate just to kind of make a plan
and it worked out for me.”
Knowles was one of five Oregon bulldoggers to run
on Friday night, including Hermiston’s Ryan Bothum,
Prineville’s Sean Santucci, Joseph’s Greg Schaffeld
and Heppner’s Clayton Morrison. Santucci had the
See RODEO/2B
“All my relatives do it, It’s all I’ve ever known.”
— Jordan Minor, Hermiston native who won the barrel racing event
Rodeo runs in the blood
Farm-City-grown
Jordan Minor part of
large rodeo family
By BRETT KANE
East Oregonian
Hermiston native Jordan
Minor won Farm-City’s barrel
racing event on Thursday night,
adding yet another accomplish-
ment on her family’s rodeo
legacy.
Minor, 29, comes from a
long line of rodeo competitors.
Her mother, Maureen Cross-
ley, is also an experienced bar-
rel racer, and her father, Shane,
has competed in tie-down rop-
ing and team roping.
But it doesn’t end there. One
of her younger sisters, Jade, 26,
barrel races, and another, Calla-
han, 24, is competing in Canada
this year, having qualified for
the Canadian finals in the past.
She also has cousins involved:
Blake Knowles of Heppner
is currently ranked at No. 4 in
the Wrangler Pro Rodeo Tour
standings in steer wrestling, and
Mary Shae Hays regularly com-
petes at Farm-City as a barrel
racer.
“All my relatives do it,” said
Minor, 29. “It’s all I’ve ever
known.”
Minor now lives in Ellens-
burg, Wash., with her 14-month-
old daughter Monroe and her
husband Riley, who — you
guessed it — also competes in
See MINOR/2B
Staff photo by Eric Singer
Hermiston’s Jordan Minor looks towards the announcer’s
stand after accepting her $100 bonus and bottle of Chute 8
whiskey after recording the top barrel racing time.
Sports shorts
Guice, Cain latest NFL
rookies injured for season
(AP) — Washington rookie run-
ning back Derrius Guice and India-
napolis rookie receiver Deon Cain
will both miss the rest of the sea-
son after both players suffered torn
ACLs in their respective preseason
games on Thursday.
Guice was expected to be the
Redskins’ starter after they selected
him 59th overall in the draft. Cain,
a sixth-round pick in this year’s
draft, played so well at training
camp it appeared he would see sig-
nificant action this season.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
Jansen on DL with irregular heartbeat
DENVER (AP) — Los Ange-
les Dodgers closer Kenley Jan-
sen was placed on the 10-day dis-
abled list because of an irregular
heartbeat.
Jansen didn’t feel right before
the game Thursday against Colo-
rado and was taken to a Denver
hospital for tests. The team sent
him back to Los Angeles for more
evaluation.
The 30-year-old right-hander
dealt with an irregular heartbeat
in 2011 that landed him on the
DL. He underwent a procedure
on his heart in October 2012 to
return it to normal rhythm.
Jansen is tied for the NL lead
with 32 saves.
To take his place on the ros-
ter, the Dodgers recalled switch-
handed pitcher Pat Venditte from
Triple-A Oklahoma City. The
33-year-old Venditte has allowed
four runs over 4 1/3 innings in
five appearances.
1970 — Philadelphia Phil-
lies pitcher Jim Bunning beats the
Houston Astros 6-5 to become the
first pitcher to win 100 games in
both leagues since Cy Young.
1974 — Lee Trevino beats Jack
Nicklaus by one stroke to capture
the PGA Championship.
1984 — Britain’s Sebastian Coe
sets an Olympic record in the 1,500
meter with a 3:32.53 time.
2016 — Michael Phelps wins
his fourth gold medal of the Rio
Olympics and 22nd overall.
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