River City Roundup: Unsung Cowboys tall in the saddle

Will Lowe lasted eight seconds aboard Moon Blast, and that was long enough for the cowboy from Canyon, Texas, to earn top honors in bareback riding Thursday on the first day of the rodeo at the River City Round-Up at Qwest Center Omaha.

“The horse bucked a lot in eight seconds,” Lowe said.

Lowe finished with 85 points, two more than everyone else, and afterward he gave his own high marks to Omaha's rodeo, the final stop on the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Justin Boots tour.

“This is sure one of my favorite rodeos,” Lowe said. “This is as good as the action gets.”

Lowe wasn't the only first-go champion who gave good marks to the crowd of 5,744. Saddle bronc champion Cody DeMoss of Heflin, La., knew the support would be good before he rode Black Gold to a score of 86.

“I think the ride could have been better, but the judges liked the ride,” DeMoss said. “I've won here twice, and hope to be able to do it again.”

Patrick Smith teamed with Trevor Brazile to win the team roping title in 4.1 seconds. Smith entered this event the third-ranked heeler in this tour while Brazile was the No. 10 header.

“Everything went awesome today,” Brazile said. “The steers and the run is so important. We roped aggressive, and that helped everything come together.”

Only Lee Graves in steer wrestling, Smith and bull rider J.W. Harris were ranked in the top three of their events in tour standings as they arrived in Omaha.

One of the best performances of the night came from Graves in steer wrestling. The cowboy from Calgary, Alberta, won in 3.3 seconds, just one-tenth of a second off the tour record of 3.2 set by Kyle Hughes in 2001 and equaled by Bob Lummus a year later.

Like many of the other winners, Graves said the animals challenging the cowboys rank among the best they see all year. Graves was second coming into this event behind tour leader Jake Rinehart, who on Thursday finished ninth.

The top eight combined scores from Thursday's and tonight's rounds move to Saturday's semifinals. After that round, the top four in each event will battle for top honors in one more round for both the tour and Omaha championships.

The other winners Thursday were Blair Burk in tie-down roping (7.1 seconds), Lindsay Sears in women's barrel racing (13.87 seconds) and Harris, of May, Texas, who won the bull riding with a score of 90 points.

“I had a really good calf tonight,” Burk said. “When you get those good opportunities, you need to take advantage of that.”

Contact the writer:

444-1201, alexsdad@mail.com

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