Barrel-racer Sears ties for third at NFR

First-timer Mary Walker takes round

Lindsay Sears dipped into the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo’s $6.1 million prize money pot during Friday night’s second round of the sport’s desert showcase at Las Vegas.

The reigning world champion barrel racer from Nanton tied for third with a time of 13.91, matching the clocking by popular Texan Lee Ann Rust.

Once again, first-time NFR starter Mary Walker, from Ennis, Tex., won the round with a time of 13.80 and her second cheque for $18,257 moved her up to second in the world standings, dropping Sears to third. She collected $8,776.

“My run was a lot better,” she said. “I felt like my timing was a little better. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but a huge improvement from the openingnight. It wasn’t what I would call a great run.”

Sears noted the ground changed significantly and that caught her a little unprepared.

“It was a lot wetter and it had a lot more hold, which is good,” she reported. “I expected it to be like it was on the opening night when it had a lot more movement and I rode for that kind of ground condition.

“I just squeaked around that first barrel, much tighter than I’d liked to have been.”

Sears plans to run her sorrel wonder horse Martha for a third straight round tonight — if she passes a test for soundness, which she goes through every morning.

It was a lot wetter and it had a lot more hold, which is good LINDSAY SEARS

Five world standings leaders faced the prospect of losing their position in the rankings going into the second round.

It didn’t take long for one of them to fall.

California’s Ethen Thouvenell took a no time and Nebraska’s two-time world champion Dean Gorsuch won second with a time of 3.9 seconds to move to the top of the standings. He also leads the aggregate on two.

Thouvenell, who is riding Calgary world champion Lee Graves’ black horse Jesse, will now have an uphill climb to even finish among the top eight in the aggregate.

On the positive side, Oregon’s Trevor Knowles, the reigning Calgary Stampede champion, stopped the clock in 4.2 seconds to finish fourth, worth $7,656.

California’s Billy Bugenig won the round with a 3.6.

Newly-crowned Canadian champion J.R. Vezain hit the leaderboard in the bareback riding, posting a third-best score of 85.5 points on the Kesler family big, stout horse Mile Away.

Vezain, from Wyoming, knew the horse’s tracks; he watched him at the Canadian Finals Rodeo three weeks ago at Edmonton.

Reigning Calgary Stampede champion Wade Sundell wound up in a three-way tie for first in the saddle bronc riding with an 84.5 score on Calgary’s Mad Money.

Opening night winner Taos Muncey, the 2010 Canadian champion from New Mexico, tied for fifth with an 82.5 on the Northcott family’s Charlie Horse.

But the upset of the day saw the Kesler outlaw Navajo Sun buck off world standings leader Jesse Wright.

Montana’s Dustin Bird and Texan Paul Eaves, who won the Canadian team roping championship three weeks ago, made their presence felt in Las Vegas, cashing third with a 5.2-second time that paid them $11,000 apiece.

Opening night calf roping winner, Tuff Cooper, the 2010 Canadian champion, tied for second with a time of 7.5. Brother Clif won the round with a 7.3.

And J.W. Harris, the threetime world champion Texas bull rider, marching toward his fourth title in five years, was second in the round with an 88-point score.

The NFR continues tonight and can be seen live on Sportsnet One at 8 p.m.