4-2-21 Digital PSN - Hi Res

Steer wrestler Thomas gets back on track with Redmond win Recovered TOP SCORES

TOP MONEY WINNER Josh Frost (bull riding, $4,033) BAREBACK RIDING

BY KEVIN CARMODY, Special to ProRodeo Sports News T here was a time, not terribly long ago, when Jason Thomas easily could have been mentioned in the same sentence with the top steer wrestlers in ProRodeo. Case in point: four-time Arkansas high school champion, college national titlist, Resistol Rookie of the Year, then ascending to National Finals Rodeo qualifier by 2016 and winning the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association steer wrestling title the following year. It was just a matter of time before he’d really break through and continue that upward progression. Unfortunately, it was a nasty break of his right arm in a freak practice pen accident while preparing for the 2018 San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo that took the Archer City, Texas, cowboy off course. “I missed my steer, and I snapped my right arm completely in half,” Thomas said. “I got a plate and nine screws in the arm after that and was out all that year. Ever since I got hurt, it’s been a grind to getting healthy and getting good horses.” At the High Desert Stampede in Redmond, Ore., which ran March 25-27, Thomas displayed his pre-injury form, turfing his steer in 3.8 seconds and winning $2,925, his first payday of the 2021 season and perhaps giving him a long-awaited boost to finally getting back on track. It’s his first win since splitting a first-place check in July at Nebraska’s Big Rodeo in Burwell. The rodeo made its long-awaited return after the coronavirus pandemic forced its cancelation last year. “Man, I feel good, as good as I have in a long time,” said Thomas, who returned in 2019 and qualified for the Canadian Finals Rodeo. “I’ve been able to put in a lot of runs on the arm and not hurt. In rodeo, you deal with soreness and bumps and bruises, but after six months, I thought I’d be good, but it tookmuch longer than that. I’m excited we get to go tomore rodeos this year. I’mnot done rodeoing. I plan onmaking the Finals a lot more times, and hopefully I can get back to winning like I used to.” With his arm issues behind him, the same hopefully can be said about his horse issues. In Redmond, Thomas rode Ringo Robinson’s palomino mare Monroe, a horse that helped Blake Knowles qualify for the 2020Wrangler NFR. “I’ve been bouncing around with horses, had to put one down and got a couple of young ones now, and I feel like I have the horse situation figured out now,”Thomas said. “In any event, you have to have a good horse to win and win consistently. It’s few and far between when a really good horse comes along, and you have to capitalize when those opportunities come along.” Thomas is looking forward to opportunities this rodeo season will offer, a season in which is guaranteed to have at least one more highlight when he marries Mary Shae Hays, Knowles’ cousin, on June 5 in Hermiston, Ore.

Josh Frost

1. Tim O’Connell ...................... 88.5 pts 2. Jess Pope ..................................... 86 3. Shane O’Connell . ....................... 85.5 STEER WRESTLING 1. Jason Thomas . .................... 3.8 sec. 2. Dalton Massey ............................ 4.0 3. Luke Branquinho . ....................... 4.3 TEAM ROPING 1. R. Minor/B. Minor ................ 4.9 sec. 2. J. Flenniken/J. Eldridge ................ 5.0 (Tie) B. Beers/R. Cardoza ............. 5.0 SADDLE BRONC RIDING 1. Chase Brooks . ..................... 86.5 pts. (Tie) Jade Blackwell ....................86.5 3. Wyatt Casper .................................86 TIE-DOWN ROPING 1. Shad Mayfield ...................... 8.0 sec. 2. J.D. McCuistion ........................... 8.3 3. Bo Pickett .................................... 8.5 BARREL RACING 1. Megan McLeod-Sprague . . 16.69 sec. 2. Jessie Telford .......................... 16.70 3. Danyelle Williams . ................... 16.80 BULL RIDING 1. Josh Frost ........................... 87.5 pts. 2. Sage Kimzey .............................. 86.5 (Tie) Dallee Mason .................... 86.5 ALL-AROUND COWBOY Russell Cardoza ($3,491, tie-down roping, team roping)

Complete results/Page 46

Roseanna Sales photo

ProRodeo Sports News 4/2/2021

ProRodeo.com

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