BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN @PRORODEOBRETT
The first of three pools was completed at The Calgary Stampede Sunday afternoon and the first group of Championship Sunday qualifiers has been established.
This year, the format of Calgary looks a little different than years past. There are three pools of 10 athletes battling for 12 total Semifinal spot in each event. Those moving onto the Semifinals are determined by total payoff over three rides/runs. Each round winner now gets $7,000 as well. Formerly, there were only two pools and each athlete would compete five times, with each round winner getting $5,500.
Let’s start in the bareback riding, where things were so competitive that No. 4 Cole Reiner won Round 2 and made $9,000 and still didn’t advance. Those who did were Clayton Biglow (Round 3 winner) and Tim O’Connell (Round 1 winner) as well as Clint Laye and Caleb Bennett. Those four cowboys have combined for 28 NFR appearances.
In steer wrestling, World No. 1 Dalton Massey wasted no time by winning Round 1 and he would also go onto win the entire pool. Joining him in the Semifinals are Cody Devers (Round 3 winner), Stockton Graves (Round 2 winner) and Dirk Tavenner, who placed fourth in two rounds and fifth in another.
Leon Fountain was the initial star of the saddle bronc riding by winning the first two rounds with matching 86.5-point rides. His $14,000 won in the pool were good enough to move him on in second as reigning World Champion Zeke Thurston finished second in the first two rounds and third in Round 3 to total up $15,500. Lefty Holman and Damian Breenan were the other two Semifinalists.
Tie-down roping in Pool A was a great mix of young and old with reigning Calgary Stampede and World Champion Caleb Smidt leading the way. He’s joined by 2016 World Champion Marcos Costa as well as 21-year-old Beau Cooper and World No. 1, 19-year-old Riley Webb. Webb made the fastest run of The Stampede with a clutch 7.1 to advance on Sunday.
Barrel racing was dominated by Lisa Lockhart and Kassie Mowry as Lockhart won Rounds 1 and 2 before Mowry, the reigning champion, was 17.02 to make by far the fastest run of the rodeo in Round 3. Ponoka Stampede Champion Emily Beisel and Jessica Routier also advanced.
In bull riding, Cody Teel’s 3-for-3 performance moved him on where he will be joined by each round winner - JC Mortensen, Daylon Swearingen and Jestyn Woodward.
BAREBACK RIDING
First Round: 1. Tim O’Connell, 87.00 points on Calgary Stampede’s Shadow Warrior, $7,000; 2. Clint Laye, 86.00, $5,500; 3. R.C. Landingham, 84.00, $4,500; 4. Clayton Biglow, $3,250; 5. Cole Reiner, 82.50, $2,000; 6. (tie) Ben Kramer and Caleb Bennett, 82.00, $500 each.
Second Round: 1. Cole Reiner, 89.00 points on Big Stone Rodeo Company’s Rum Flavoured, $7,000; 2. Caleb Bennett, 86.50, $5,500; 3. Clayton Biglow, 85.50, $4,500; 4. Clint Laye, 83.50, $3,250; 5. Mason Clements, 82.50, $2,000; 6. Nick Pelke, 81.00, $1,000.
Third Round: 1. Clayton Biglow, 88.00 points on Macza Pro Rodeo’s I’m A Winner, $7,000; 2. Time O’Connell, 85.50, $5,500; 3. Caleb Bennett, 83.50, $4,500; 4. (tie) Clint Laye and R.C. Landingham, 82.50, $2,625 each; 6. Mason Clements, 79.00, $1,000.
Qualifiers: 1. Clayton Biglow; 2. Tim O’Connell, 3. Clint Laye; 4. Caleb Bennett.
STEER WRESTLING
First Round: 1. Dalton Massey, 4.7 seconds, $7,000; 2. (tie) Cody Devers and Tanner Brunner, 5.5, $5,000 each; 4. Stockton Graves, 6.1, $3,250; 5. Dirk Tavenner, 7.5, $2,000; 6. Don Payne, 9.5, $1,000.
Second Round: 1. Stockton Graves, 4.1 seconds, $7,000; 2. (tie) Dalton Massey and Tucker Allen, 4.2, $5,000 each; 4. Dirk Tavenner, 4.3, $3,250; 5. Cody Devers, 5.1, $2,000; 6. Curtis Cassidy, 7.4, $1,000.
Third Round: 1. (tie) Cody Devers and Stan Branco, 3.4 seconds, $6,250 each; 3. Dalton Massey, 3.6, $4,500; 4. Dirk Tavenner, 3.9, $3,250; 5. Tucker Allen, 4.0, $2,000; 6. Nick Guy, 12.9, $1,000.
Qualifiers: 1. Dalton Massey; 2. Cody Devers; 3. Stockton Graves; 4. Dirk Tavenner.
SADDLE BRONC RIDING
First Round: 1. Leon Fountain, 86.50 points on Calgary Stampede’s Business Girl, $7,000; 2. Zeke Thurston, 85.50, $5,500; 3. Shorty Garrett, 83.00, $4,500; 4. Damian Brennan, 81.50, $3,250; 5. Lefty Holman, 78.50, $2,000; 6. Parker Fleet, 78.00, $1,000.
Second Round: 1. Leon Fountain, 86.50 points on Calgary Stampede’s Flying Carma, $7,000; 2. Zeke Thurston, 85.00, $5,500; 3. Lefty Holman, 83.50, $4,500; 4. Brody Cress, 83.00, $3,250; 5. Shorty Garrett, 82.50, $2,000; 6. Parker Fleet, 80.50, $1,000.
Third Round: 1. Lefty Holman, 89.50 points on Calgary Stampede’s Come Along, $7,000; 2. Damian Brennan, 87.00, $5,500; 3. Zeke Thurston, 86.50, $4,500; 4. Isaac Diaz, 84.00, $3,250; 5. Ryder Sanford, 83.50, $2,000; 6. Leon Fountain, 83.00, $1,000.
Qualifiers: 1. Zeke Thurston; 2. Leon Fountain; 3. Lefty Holman; 4. Damian Brennan.
TIE-DOWN ROPING
First Round: 1. Michael Otero, 7.6 seconds, $7,000; 2. Marcos Costa, 8.4, $5,500; 3. Beau Cooper, 8.5, $4,500; 4. Zach Jongbloed, 8.6, $3,250; 5. Riley Mason Webb, $2,000; 6. Matt Shiozawa, 9.2, $1,000.
Second Round: 1. (tie) Caleb Smidt and Riley Pruitt, 7.3 seconds, $6,250 each; 3. Marcos Costa, 8.4, $4,500; 4. Matt Shiozawa, 8.8, $3,250; 5. Zack Jongbloed, $2,000; no other qualified runs.
Third Round: 1. Riley Webb, 7.1 seconds, $7,000; 2. (tie) Caleb Smidt and Beau Cooper, 7.2, $5,000 each; 4. Trevor Hale, 8.5, $3,250; 5. Marty Yates, 9.0, $2,000; 6. Zack Jongbloed, 9.7, $1,000.
Qualifiers: 1. Caleb Smidt; 2. Marcos Costa; 3. Beau Cooper; 4. Riley Webb.
BARREL RACING
First Round: 1. Lisa Lockhart, 17.580 seconds, $7,000; 2. Jessica Routier, 17.650; $5,500; 3. Emily Beisel, 17.670, $4,500; 4. Margo Crowther, 17.720, $3,250; 5. Sara Winkelman, 17.990, $2,000; 6. Shelby Spielman, 18.030, $1,000.
Second Round: 1. Lisa Lockhart, 17.500 seconds, $7,000; 2. Stevi Hillman, 17.510, $5,500; 3. Emily Beisel, 17.520, $4,500; 4. Shelby Spielman, Kassie Mowry and Margo Crowther, 17.600, $2,083 each.
Third Round: 1. Kassie Mowry, 17.020 seconds, $7,000; 2. Sissy Winn, 17.360, $5,500; 3. Lisa Lockhart, 17.400, $4,500; 4. Sara Winkleman, 17.420, $3,250; 5. Brandi Whiteside, 17.490, $2,000; 6. Shelby Spielman, 17.510, $1,000.
Qualifiers: 1. Lisa Lockhart; 2. Kassie Mowry; 3. Emily Beisel; 4. Jessica Routier.
BULL RIDING
First Round: *1. JC Mortensen, 84.50 points on Duane Kesler Rodeo’s Jack O Latern, $7,200; 2. Cody Teel, 82.50; $5,700; 3. Trey Holston, 81.00, $4,700; 4. Jestyn Woodward, 80.50, $3,450; 5. Trevor Reiste, 73.00, $2,200; no other qualified rides.
Second Round: *1. Daylon Swearingen, 87.50 points on Calgary Stampede’s Armed & Dangerous, $9,083; 2. Cooper Davis, 86.00, $7,583; 3. Cody Teel, 84.00, $6,583; no other qualified rides.
Third Round: 1. Jestyn Woodward, 87.50 points on Macza Pro Rodeo’s Red Rocker, $7,000; 2. Jeff Askey, 84.50, $5,500; 3. Cody Teel, 84.00, $4,500; 4. JC Mortensen and Dakota Buttar, 82.00, $2,625 each; 6. Daylon Swearingen, 81.00, $1,000.
Qualifiers: 1. Cody Teel; 2. Jestyn Woodward; 3. JC Mortensen; 4. Daylon Swearingen.
