NFR competitors show toughness to complete historic doubleheader
Wednesday brought a historic doubleheader at the National Finals Rodeo.
Athletes completed two go-rounds in the same day for the first time to make up for the NFR starting a day late after three professors were killed in a shooting Dec. 6 at UNLV.
UNLV students, staffers and family members attended the morning session free of charge.
Here’s how the two rounds shook out:
Sixth go-round
Tuesday night’s action at the Thomas &Mack Center ended with bull rider Ky Hamilton getting knocked off his bull and losing consciousness in the last run of the day. He was carried off on a backboard and taken to a local hospital to be treated for a concussion.
Less than 16 hours after Hamilton’s fall, the Australian returned for an early run on the sixth day of competition. He posted a score of 85.5, tied for third, in the sixth go-round at the NFR.
“A scary moment (Tuesday) night for sure,” said Sage Kimzey, who tied for first with a score of 86.5. “I think (Hamilton) literally came from the hospital here this morning to here on a bull. Hats off to him for being tough and having the cowboy resilience. He showed out today, so that was good.”
Originally, Hamilton was ruled out for the sixth round, Dr. Tandy Freeman, the medical director of the Justin Sports Medicine team, told the PRCA website. But Hamilton, the leader in the bull riding standings, completed his run to grow his lead.
Hamilton leads Stetson Wright, who is out for the remainder of the NFR with a right hamstring injury, by over $38,000 after the sixth round. Hamilton later won the seventh go-round Wednesday night.
“There’s a ground rule here that if you miss one round, you have to miss the next round,” said Kimzey, who is fourth in the standings, over $133,000 behind Hamilton. “(Hamilton) was going to have to miss the next two rounds. Especially with as tight as the gold buckle race is getting, you don’t want to do that.”
Josh Frost also posted a score of 86.5 to share the top spot with Kimzey. The win is Kimzey’s second straight after winning his go-round Tuesday night and placing in second Monday.
“Getting an 86.5, splitting the round win, I couldn’t ask for more,” Kimzey said. “I’m just stacking it up, building on the momentum and keeping the ball rolling.”
Other go-round winners:
■ Tanner Aus, Granite Falls, Minnesota, and Jacob Lees, Caldwell, Idaho, tie in bareback riding (87).
■ Dirk Tavenner, Rigby, Idaho, in steer wrestling (3.6 seconds).
■ Erich Rogers, Round Rock, Arizona, and Paul Eaves, Lonedell, Missouri, in team roping (3.5 seconds).
■ Kade Bruno, Challis, Idaho, in saddle bronc riding (88.5).
■ Caleb Smidt, Bellville, Texas in tie-down roping (6.8 seconds).
■ Emily Beisel, Weatherford, Oklahoma, in barrel racing (13.60 seconds).
Seventh go-round
Team ropers Clint Summers and Jake Long weren’t sure how their run would go Wednesday night when they saw the calf they had drawn.
With the luck the duo is having at this year’s NFR, it didn’t matter.
Summers and Long picked up their fourth go-round win with a time of 4.0 seconds in the seventh round of action. The duo tied with two other teams that matched that same time.
“We had to react, and it worked out,” Summers said. “It was a good feeling to see that time and we ended up being as fast as we did.”
The duo of Derrick Begay and Colter Todd and the team of Clay Smith and Paden Bray also finished their run in four seconds. All six will add $24,433 to their total earnings in the overall standings.
“(The calf) shocked us with how fast he was,” Long said. “We didn’t think it was that sharp. … Hopefully, my heel shot looked good, but it was easier than I thought it was going to be.”
Summers leads the header standings by more than $25,000 over Andrew Ward. Long has an advantage of more than $27,000 over Wesley Thorp among heelers. Summers and Long have racked up more than $126,000 in earnings this NFR.
“You always hope it goes well, but you never expect it to go this way,” Long said. “You always show up hoping it’s going to go your way and be one of the big winners of the week. It’s going the way I hoped it would go, but maybe not the way I expected it to go.”
Summers and Long picked up go-round wins in rounds 1, 2 and 4.
“The wins are fun, but I’m just having fun,” Summers said. “Hopefully we can keep that rolling on and keep making our run and see where it leads up.”
It’s the first year Summers and Long have worked together. Summers said he feels like they’ve been “on a roll” in the later part of the year and it’s “rolled over” to the NFR.
“To have a guy like Jake behind me, if you do your job … you’re fixing to win a lot of money in this building,” Summers said. “He heels so good and he’s been in this situation so many times, it’s sure been fun.”
Added Long: “Our run feels really good. I don’t know how many years I’ve got, but I hope he and I have some more good runs in us.”
Other go-round winners:
■ Clayton Biglow, Clements, California, in bareback riding (88).
■ Stan Bronco, Chowchilla, California, in steer wrestling (3.8 seconds).
■ Damian Brennan, Injune, Australia, and Ryder Wright, Beaver, Utah, tie in saddle bronc riding (87).
■ Haven Meged, Miles City, Montana, in tie-down roping (6.4 seconds).
■ Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi, Lampasas, Texas, in barrel racing (13.47 seconds).
■ Ky Hamilton, Mackay, Australia, in bull riding (89).
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Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
