NFR DAILY ROUNDUP

Matt Shiozawa shared the credit for winning the calf roping go-round at the National Finals Rodeo on Sunday night with his new traveling partner.

The former star athlete at Moapa Valley High School and part-time Logandale resident married Allyson Swan on April 13 after a five-year courtship, and he said it’s helped him focus on his roping.

He turfed his calf in 7.7 seconds to win the sixth go-round of his career. He finished last year ranked second in the world, and his $108,729 earned this year is fifth in the standings.

• ALL AROUND — Trevor Brazile of Decatur, Texas, earned $16,394 after he and heeler Patrick Smith won team roping with a time of 4.0 seconds. Brazile didn’t get a check in calf roping but has won $325,868 to extend his all-around money lead to $160,000 over Josh Peek of Pueblo, Colo.

Peek placed fifth in calf roping to earn $4,230 but finished out of the money in steer wrestling.

• BAREBACK RIDING — Bobby Mote started the rodeo ranked first with a lead of around $46,000 over the field, but he hadn’t earned a check in the first three go-rounds. The cowboy from Culver, Ore., received a call from 18-time NFR qualifier Clint Corey after his ride Saturday.

“Clint just told me to have fun and remember to do what I was doing when I was winning this year,” said Mote, the 2002 world champion.

The advice must have worked because he scored 85.5 points on Hostage out of Cervi Championship Rodeo to edge a pair of 85s to win the round.

The $16,394 check pushed Mote’s lead to $48,000 over Justin McDaniel, who finished out of the money.

• STEER WRESTLING — Canadian Lee Graves and Sean Mulligan of Coleman, Okla., tied for first with times of 3.7 seconds. Each cowboy received $14,675.

Graves, the 2005 world champion, did not receive a time the previous night but said he didn’t let it affect him.

“It took all year to get here, so why get negative?” Graves said.

• TEAM ROPING — The go-round victory by Brazile, the header, and Smith moved them to sixth and fifth, respectively, in the world standings.

“You’ve got to start with one in a row,” Smith said. “We’ve made two good runs in a row, and we’d just like to keep it rolling this week.”

• SADDLE BRONC RIDING — NFR rookie Heath DeMoss of Crowville, La., scored 86.5 on Stace Smith’s Big Jet to win his first go-round.

“It’s unexplainable. For a kid who has wanted this his whole life … I don’t know what to say. It’s a dream come true,” said DeMoss, the 21-year-old brother of fellow bronc rider Cody DeMoss, who scored 80 but finished out of the money.

• CALF ROPING — Houston Hutto of Del Rio, Texas, tied for second with Hunter Herrin of Apache, Okla., and both cowboys took advantage of leader Brazile’s failure to earn a check to tighten the world standings.

Hutto and Herrin each received checks for $11,370. Herrin moved to within $7,000 of Brazile, and Hutto is $10,000 behind Brazile.

• BARREL RACING — Terra Bynum of Colorado City, Texas, won the go-round with a time of 13.87 seconds on Maverick, and a third-place finish by money leader Brittany Pozzi-Phar helped her get closer to a first world title.

Pozzi-Phar’s check for $9,783 moved her to first in event aggregate standings and increased her lead over Lindsay Sears to $50,000.

• BULL RIDING — J.W. Harris finished first and Cody Hancock was second as the only riders to finish their 8-second rides.

Harris, of May, Texas, scored 85 on Flying U Rodeo’s High Waters, and Hancock, of Taylor, Ariz., scored 82 on Big Bend Rodeo’s Stockland Livestock.

The $16,394 Harris won and the $12,956 for Hancock count toward the world standings. They also will split the “ground money” of $23,534, which was the prize money earmarked for third through eighth places.

JEFF WOLF/REVIEW-JOURNAL