As the opening song played the third round of the 2014 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo played the cowboys and cowgirls must have been listening while getting ready for the grand entry as records were made and broken making tonight’s round of competition one that will be remembered for years to come! The night started with the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo flag girls decked out in LED light strips as the lights went dark inside the Thomas & Mack as these talented horsewomen wowed the 17,943 rodeo fans that were in attendance.
Bareback riding started the night off just right with every contestant in the event making a qualified ride and giving the arena something to cheer about as they were just getting warmed up. The man that ended on top of the leader board for the third go round is a local hero in his hometown of Porum, Oklahoma, Justin McDaniel. McDaniel did not have to study the draw too hard to find out information about his opponent, Frontier Rodeo’s Delta Ship as they have met for competition three times prior to tonight’s match up. All three times he has made qualified rides and won the rodeo and that did not change tonight as he scored a 89 point ride to win once again. See what he had to say about his go round win and his thoughts on a horse that has put a ton of money in his pocket as of late!
Steer wrestling was the next event down on the timed event end of the arena. When you think about this event you tend to get excited to see some fast runs that will electrify the crowds as well as those watching from their homes across the world. Tonight would be no different as fast times in the arena started to happen almost instantaneously and the feeling was in the air that something special might just happen in round three. Well those feelings were correct as Kyle Irwin won the round, his second consecutive splitting roundtwo last night, with a cool 3.2 second run. See what Kyle has to say about this stat and his thoughts on the round and the energy inside the Thomas & Mack.
The team roping contestants had a fantastic round three performance as 14 of the 15 teams competing were able to secure a catch and keep the average race for the National Finals Rodeo exciting. No team could do better this night than Dustin Bird and Paul Eaves making a clean run and securing a 3.9 second time. When you talk about a household name within the sport of professional rodeo one name comes to mind and that is Wade Sundell. This Iowa cowboy made a great ride to win the third round in the saddle bronc event with a 87 point ride on top of Rafter G Rodeo’s Low Bucks. See what he had to say to Jason immediately after his go round win!
Since the round was going so great, one of the best rounds in recent memory in my mind, the tie-down ropers wanted to keep the tradition alive while it was their turn to take time in the spotlight. Speaking of tradition Cody Ohl has quite the third round tradition going on at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeos that he has been a part of. Cody, with the win tonight, has won three consecutive round three performances with a 6.6 second run tonight. Last year he set a personal record with a 6.9 second run and broke that again this year with the 6.6 run of his lifetime. See what he had to say as he stops by the Rodeo Round Up after his winning run tonight inside the Thomas & Mack!
There has been a lot of talk over the first two rounds of barrel racing about the ground on the arena floor not being up to par. Kuddos have to be given to the arena crew as they have been working non-stop to try and make the footing better for the contestants. Tonight was a completely different story as the ladies gave accolades as to how their horses handed the pattern tonight with WNFR rookie Kassidy Dennison taking home her first WNFR go round belt buckle and $19.000 with a 13.94 run, the fastest of the 2014 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo so far. Sage Kimzey rounded out the performance by winning the bull riding with a 84.50 score aboard Pete Carr Classic Pro Rodeo’s bull Line Man.
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