ProRodeo Sports News - Feb. 18, 2022

FORT WORTH, TEXAS

BY TANNER BARTH & TRACY RENCK

Sage Kimzey jumpstarts 2022 season The last two weeks have been a whirlwind to say the least for seven-time PRCAWorld Champion Bull Rider Sage Kimzey. On January 25, Sage and his wife Alexis welcomed their first child Steele into the world. Now, fast forward 12 days and he’s already making his young son proud. Kimzey captured the coveted title at the 2022 Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo with a 91.5-point ride on 4L &Diamond S Rodeo’s Space Unicorn in the championship round. “I told Alexis, ‘if I’m going to be gone from you two I’m going to make it worth it,’” said Kimzey, 27. “I had a really nice draw tonight in Space Unicorn of Scott Pickens. You know I was really happy to have him, he’s a really great bull and it all worked out for me here in Fort Worth.” The eight second ride in the finals earned Kimzey $20,000, over the course of four rides in Fort Worth he walked away with $29,827 in his pocket. He said even though his layoff after the NFR was longer than usual it was something he needed to get back on track. “It was a needed break for sure,” Kimzey said. “The NFR is such a stressful atmosphere and there’s so much going on. I always take a little time to decompress anyway. There was a lot of stuff physically therapy wise that I needed to work on.” Even though Kimzey missed nearly two weeks of action he quickly made-up ground. The win moved him inside the top 5 of the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings once again. He said he’s exactly where he wants to be and is excited to finish out the winter run strong. “I had to miss a bunch of rodeos the last week and a half but this kind of made all of that null and void,” he said. “It kind of puts me right where I want to be.”

Tie-down roper Bryson Sechrist keeps chasing the Wrangler NFR dream. It came into a little bit better focus on Feb. 5. The Oklahoma cowboy won the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo with a 7.2-second run in the finals. Sechrist’s final run earned him $20,000 and he earned $23,760 total in Fort Worth. “I have been waiting on this for a long time,” Sechrist said. “I have been coming to Fort Worth ever since I got my (PRCA) card in 2012 I believe. This is huge. I have grown up with a lot of those guys (who were in the finals) and they know how to go fast. I knew I had to just let it all hang out and let it go and it worked out.” Sechrist’s didn’t have any secret formula for his blistering run, which was a record for the storied FWSSR. “It is a lot of muscle memory,” Sechrist said. “Soon as I roped to him and got to him, it was all a blur. When I saw the 7.2, I still didn’t think I was going to win it, but I knew I would get a good check. I’m just glad it worked out. I never thought I would set the arena record. That arena record will not last long. Those guys, they how to reach, and they can get after it.” Sechrist is hopeful this win is a catalyst for his 2022 campaign. “Hopefully, we will just keep building and building and get things rolling.” Bryson Sechrist nabs tie-down win James Phifer photo Sage Kimzey wasted no time getting the 2022 season kicked off right with an 91.5-point ride on 4L & Diamond S Rodeo’s Space Unicorn to win.

James Phifer photo Tie-down roper Bryson Sechrist beat a star-studded field at the FWSSR with an arena record time of 7.2 seconds in the finals.

ProRodeo Sports News 2/18/2022

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