A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2017
Top rodeo athletes, stock to compete at new arena
By GARY L. WEST
STAFF WRITER
The Farm-City Pro Ro-
deo begins Wednesday
with 456 contestants en-
tered, including some of
the top names in rodeo and
a slew of last year’s cham-
pions.
“All the top cowboys
are coming,” said David
Bothum, co-founder of the
Farm-City Pro Rodeo and
former professional saddle
bronc rider.
“Bucking
horse-wise
and bucking bulls-wise, it’s
just outstanding. It should
be an outstanding rodeo.”
Bothum said the timed-
event stock is also high
quality, for the timed rop-
ing events.
Bothum has been busy
in recent weeks as a sub-
contractor and rodeo board
member, getting the arena
and rodeo facilities ready
for this years rodeo.
“I think everyone —
cowboys, spectators —
will be impressed with this
facility.” Bothum said.
He expressed apprecia-
tion to the community for
its support in getting to this
point.
“The community should
be pretty amazed when they
come walking through,” he
said.
Among those sched-
uled to compete in the
new Farm-City Arena at
the Eastern Oregon Trade
and Event Center are five
of the cowboys in the Top
10 for the Professional Ro-
deo Cowboys Association
all-around title including
current standings leader,
Tuf Cooper of Weather-
ford, Texas, and 13-time
All-Around Cowboy World
Champion Trevor Brazile.
The man who’s owned
the Farm-City all-around
title for two of the last
three years, Rhen Richard,
is also expected to com-
pete in defense of his 2016
Hermiston rodeo title.
Russell Cardoza of Ter-
IN BRIEF
Fall recreation sports
start in September
Adult fall sports league
in Hermiston includes co-ed
competitive and recreational
volleyball leagues and UST-
FL Adult Flag Football
Offered by Hermiston
Parks & Recreation, captains
must register all volleyball
players (roster is limited to
12 players). The eight-week
season, which starts Sunday,
Sept. 17, in the Gold Gym
at Hermiston High School,
includes a postseason single
elimination event. The team
fee is $150 and the registra-
tion deadline is Thursday,
Aug. 31.
The football league is
8-on-8 non-contact. The
eight-week season includes
a single elimination tourna-
ment. The games are on Sat-
urdays, beginning Sept. 9, at
Sunset Elementary School.
The team registration fee
is $475. The captain must
register the team by Friday,
Aug. 25.
To participate in the fall
adult leagues, participants
must be 18-or-older, not in
high school and not playing
on a college team.
For more information,
visit www.hermistonrecre-
ation.com. To register, call
541-667-5018 or stop by
the recreation office, 180
N.E. Second St., Hermis-
ton.
Golf Fore Life seeks
participants
Golfers are invited to
tee-off to benefit Pregnancy
Care Services of Hermiston
and Pendleton.
The Golf ‘Fore’ Life
Tournament is Saturday,
Aug. 26, at Echo Hills Golf
Course. Sign-ins are at 1
p.m., with a shotgun start at
2 p.m. A catered meal is set
for 4:30 p.m.
The cost is $60 per per-
son, which includes green
fees. For more information,
contact phyllis@pregnan-
cycareservices.com, 541-
567-3393.
Local contestants for 2017
STAFF PHOTO BY GARY L. WEST
A group of bulls from Korkow Rodeos stock contracting company is among the first group of
livestock to offload into the new Farm-City Pro Rodeo arena stock pens at the Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center on Monday, Aug. 7. The animals will be housed in the on-grounds
pens all week during the Hermiston rodeo.
rebonne, Oregon, who is
leading the all-around race
for the Columbia River
Circuit, is also slated to
compete in three events.
Returning
bareback
champion Jake Vold is
signed up to try to defend
his title, as is steer wrestling
champ Clayton Hass, who
sits seventh in the PRCA
all-around world standings.
He will also compete in the
team roping event.
Tyrell J. Smith, 2016
Farm-City saddle bronc
co-champion, is scheduled
to ride in defense of his
buckle from last year. The
Sand Coulee, Montana,
cowboy tied for the 2016
saddle bronc title with
Sterling Crawley. Crawley
is not entered in this year’s
show.
Tyler Prcin of Alvord,
Texas, who won the tie-
down roping last year in
Hermiston will also be back
to attempt a repeat win.
Timber Moore of Aubrey,
Texas, and Matt Shiozawa
of Chubbock, Idaho, who
won the event in 2015 and
STAFF PHOTO BY GARY L. WEST
David Bothum, right, co-
founder of the Farm-City
Pro Rodeo, talks to stock
contractor T.J. Korkow of
Korkow Rodeos, during a
tour of the livestock pens
Monday, Aug. 7, at the
Eastern Oregon Trade and
Event Center.
2013 respectively, are also
entered in this year’s tie-
down roping in Hermiston.
The top Farm-City team
ropers from 2016 — Gar-
rett Tonozzi and Wyatt Cox
— are also expected back
in Hermiston this week as
is last year’s barrel racing
champion, Kimmie Wall.
The only event in which
a 2016 Farm-City champi-
on who isn’t entered for the
2017 rodeo is last year’s
bull riding champion Cole
Melancon, who is currently
ranked seventh in the world
standings.
But there will be no
shortage of bull riding tal-
ent as five of the cowboys
in the Top 10 of the bull
riding world standings are
entered in Farm-City, in-
cluding Garret Smith of
Rexburg, Idaho (No. 2),
and Ty Wallace of Coll-
bran, Colorado. (No. 3).
At least 32 cowboys
and cowgirls from Uma-
tilla and Morrow counties
are entered in the event, 17
just from Hermiston. Local
competition will be par-
ticularly prominent in the
barrel racing event, with 18
barrel racers from Umatilla
and Morrow counties, led
by Callahan Crossley of
Hermiston, who is current-
ly in seventh place in the
Women’s Professional Ro-
deo Association’s Colum-
bia River Circuit standings
as of July 31. Crossley and
the rest of the local barrel
Some of the Umatilla and Morrow
counties contestants entered in the
Farm-City Pro Rodeo.
Heppner
Allen Boore, calf roping, steer
wrestling
Susan Gibbs, barrel racing
Blake Knowles, steer wrestling
Clayton Morrison, steer wrestling
Hermiston
Randy Rae Britt, barrel racing
Shandie Britt, barrel racing
Andy Carlson, team roping
Britni Carlson, barrel racing
Brandon Christensen, steer
wrestling
Callahan Crossley, barrel racing
Shane Crossley, team roping
Cody Ford, bull riding
Brad Goodrich, calf roping
Mary Shae Hays, barrel racing
Steve Hoffman, calf roping
Hilary Imhof, barrel racing
racers will be competing
against some of the top tal-
ent in the event.
Seven of the top 10
barrel racers in the cur-
rent WPRA standings are
entered in Farm-City in-
cluding top-ranked Tiany
Schuster of Krum, Texas,
who has a lead of more
than $76,000 over sec-
ond-place Stevi Hillman
of Weatherford, Texas,
who is also entered. The
top-ranked Oregon cow-
girl is Amberleigh Moore
of Salem-Keizer, Oregon,
who is also entered in the
Farm-City field and leads
the Columbia River Circuit
standings.
Even before the rodeo
started, stock contractor
T.J. Korkow praised the
new setup.
“I think it’s awesome,”
Korkow said while unload-
ing his bucking horses and
bulls in the new stock pens.
“They’ve all been very
impressed,” Bothum said
of the stock contractor’s
assessment of the new fa-
cility.
Dalton Massey, steer wrestling
Shawn Massey, barrel racing
Jordan Minor, barrel racing
Kelsey Monahan, barrel racing
Michael Pederson, calf roping
Pendleton
Lawanda Bronson, barrel racing
Phoenix Everano, team roping
Wendy Wilson, barrel racing
Echo
Amy Coelho, barrel racing
Jody Hale, barrel racing
Stanfield
Chandra Eng, barrel racing
Jami Erwert, barrel racing
Jodi Goodrich, barrel racing
Seth Hopper, calf roping
Lexington
Mary Ann Munkers, barrel racing
Milton-Freewater
Bryce Palmer, team roping
The pens are big and an-
imals can relax and not be
crowded, Bothum said.
There is another advan-
tage for the animals and
contractors in that they can
stay on the grounds through
the whole run of the rodeo.
“They don’t have to haul
’em in (every day) like they
have for the last 30 years,”
when the animals were
housed at stock yards away
from the rodeo arena. Bo-
thum said that means there
is less chance of an incident
occurring during transport,
possibly resulting in inju-
ries to livestock.
And less transporting
also means less work for
the contractors moving
livestock around every day.
Bothum express appre-
ciated to the community for
supporting the rodeo and
it’s board of directors and
efforts to get the facility to
this point.
He said they will learn
from this week and see if
anything still needs to be
improved and, if so, “we’ll
make it better.”