Denny's wild ride caps Cheney Rodeo

Five of the eight championships were decided on Friday night at the 48th Annual Cheney Rodeo, but those who ventured out to Bi-Mart Arena Sunday got to likely see the performance of the weekend.

That's where bareback rider Wyatt Denny from Minden, Nev. scored an 81 on a mount named Lakota to win that championship over Colbert, Wash. rider Jed McKinley's 80.

It was after completing his required eight-second ride that the drama began. Denny was unable to free himself from the horse and took an extended ride being flung around by one arm as his hand was stuck in the handhold. Denny did finally free himself and got tossed, but walked away appearing fine.

Other Sunday winners included Stanford, Mont. competitor John Gee who scored a 4.4 – 4.6 second victory over Wenatchee's Colin Wolfe in steer wrestling.

Sunday's other winners were team roping duo of Guy Gregg from Touchet, Wash. and Shane Crossley out of Hermiston, Ore. who edged Hayes Smith from White City, Ore. and Bonanza, Ore. competitor Jason Duby by one-tenth of a second, 6.1 – 6.2.

Taylor Santos from Creston, Calif. earned a 9.1 – 9.5 second victory over Jake Pratt of Ellensburg in Friday's competition.

Chuck Schmidt from Keldron, S.D. and Kendall Green split first-place money in saddle bronc with identical scores of 84. They edged out current Columbia River Circuit leader Ben Londo, who scored an 83 Sunday.

Thor Hoefer from Priest River, Idaho and Chase Robbins from Marsing, Idaho were also deadlocked in the other rough stock event as each scored an 82 to split the title in bull riding.

Britni Carlson from Hermiston, Ore. captured the barrel racing title with a slim 17.70 – 17.73 win over Cindy Woods from Newberg, Ore.

From the business side of the event, "Gate was up about 8-percent and competitors, as you saw in the day-sheets were better in numbers and rankings than we have ever seen," PRCA secretary, Trisha Davis-Stacy wrote in an email.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.