Corrington, Bownds win on NFR Rookie Night

Tyler Corrington and Chandler Bownds reinforced Tuesday's theme of "rookie night" at the National Finals Rodeo.

The NFR rookies won their categories in the sixth go-round before 17,277 at the Thomas & Mack Center to earn $17,844 each in the $6 million rodeo.

Corrington (Hastings, Minn.) broke through for his first victory of the Finals when he won the saddle bronc riding round, scoring 86 points on Stace Smith Pro Rodeos' Goin South.

"I just wanted to go out there and have fun," said Corrington, who was bucked off in each of the past two rounds.

"That horse has been around for a while. I'd seen him quite a few times, and I always wanted to get on him. I was tickled to draw him."

For Bownds, it was his second bull riding win in five days.

BAREBACK RIDING -- Bobby Mote clearly has recovered from an August injury that led to half of his pancreas being removed.

The four-time world champion got his first check of the Finals on Monday, and the Oregon cowboy followed by riding for 87 points to win the sixth round on Classic Rodeo's Wise Guy.

Lewis Feild (Payson, Utah) placed third to earn $10,673, pushing his season total to $219,121 and extending his world money lead to almost $60,000 with four rounds left.

STEER WRESTLING -- Jake Rinehart (Highmore, S.D.) was nearly half a second quicker than his previous five runs and turfed his steer in 3.6 seconds to win the round.

Luke Branquinho (Los Alamos, Calif.) continues to be the best bulldogger in the Finals. He placed second and has won $80,048 to lead Jason Miller (Lance Creek, Wyo.) by $27,500.

TEAM ROPING -- Trevor Brazile clinched his ninth all-around world championship on Sunday, but that hasn't slowed his pursuit for gold.

Brazile (Decatur, Texas) and heeler Patrick Smith (Midland, Texas) caught their steer in 3.5 seconds to win for the second time over the past five days. The pair finished second Monday.

Brazile and Smith, header and heeler, respectively, have each won $52,788 in the Finals and are fifth in the world standings. They stand about $23,000 behind leaders Clay Tryan (Billings, Mont.) and Travis Graves (Jay, Okla.) heading into tonight's seventh round.

SADDLE BRONC RIDING -- After losing the world championship lead on Monday, Taos Muncy (Corona, N.M.) regained it when he placed fourth and Cody Wright (Milford, Utah) was bucked off. Muncy's $179,529 in season earnings leads Wright by about $4,000.

TIE-DOWN ROPING -- Ryan Jarrett won by tying his calf in 7.4 seconds. The Georgia native living in Comanche, Okla., won the 2005 all-around world championship and is competing in his sixth Finals and third straight.

"I came in 14th (in the standings), and all I can do is go up," he said.

BARREL RACING -- Sherry Cervi (Marana, Ariz.) won her first round this year by completing the three-barrel circuit in 13.93 seconds on Stingray.

Cervi, a three-time and reigning world champion, remains third in this year's season standings.

Leader Brittany Pozzi (Victoria, Texas) placed third. Lindsay Sears (Nanton, Alberta), second in the championship race, took second Tuesday night.

BULL RIDING -- Bownds (Lubbock, Texas) won his second go-round of the Finals in his first trip to the NFR by covering Sutton Rodeos' Crystal Springs Peach for 89 points.

Shane Proctor (Grand Coulee, Wash.) retained the world championship lead when he won $9,086 after tying for third and J.W. Harris, his nearest pursuer, was bucked off.

Proctor leads three-time and reigning world champion Harris by about $24,000.

Jeff Wolf is a freelance reporter. He can be reached at (702) 406-8165 or nitrorodeo@gmail.com