ProRodeo Sports News - Jan. 24, 2020

GREAT FALLS, MONT.

In-laws Day and Williams top the bill in Great Falls Big Sky Duo BY MATT NABER B rothers-in-law Radley Day and Taylor Williams struck some ProRodeo gold in the Treasure State by winning the RAMMontana Circuit Finals Rodeo, Jan. 12. ALL-AROUND COWBOY Gerald Eash, $3,829, saddle bronc riding and bull riding BAREBACK RIDING TOP SCORES Eash

“It’s pretty good to make my first circuit finals, and to do it with my brother-in-law makes it that much better,” Day said. The duo placed fourth in the first round at 6.2 seconds and held consistent in the final two rounds, placing second in each at 7.2 and 7.3 seconds, respectively, to win the average by more than two seconds with 20.7 seconds on three head. All told, their Great Falls, Mont., efforts were worth $7,658 and a spot at the RAMNational Circuit Finals Rodeo in Kissimmee, Fla., April 2-4. The win also had the bonus of a spot at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. Winning the RAMMCFR will have a big impact on their 2020 season, they said. “It’s a great chance to run at money we wouldn’t normally have a chance at running at,” saidWilliams, who turns 31 on Jan. 31. “It doesn’t change our broad plan on how many rodeos we’ll go to, but it’s dang sure a great opportunity.” With $12,953 each, the duo ended the 2019 season with Day in fourth in the Montana Circuit Standings for team roping heading andWilliams third for team roping heeling. “It (winning the RAMMCFR) means a lot since I hadn’t rodeoed a whole lot the last few years,” Williams said. “I kind of cracked back out, and it feels good to have some success.” Williams had won a few thousand each year from 2011-13, then started winning money again in 2019. As for Day, he won $50 in 2014 and didn’t earn a ProRodeo check again until 2019. “For most of my late-20s I didn’t buy a card and was just working at home, and then I had a chance to do some rodeoing this summer and had some more help at home to get away to do it,” Williams said. The duo competed together a few years ago but took a step back in recent years. Now, Williams and Day, who married Williams’ sister, Ashley, live and work about 700 head of cattle on the Williams family ranch in Volborg, Mont. “My wife talked me into buying my card, and she barrel races and was going to a few, so I got Taylor talked into it,” Day said. “We’re not too far apart, within walking distance.” The family affair at the RAMMCFR didn’t end in the team roping as both of their wives competed too. “It’s pretty cool to go to Kissimmee for that much money and getting in Fort Worth is pretty cool, too,” Day said. “I’ve got an 11-year-old boy (Kyler) and it’s about to be his turn to go rodeoing. I have a few years left before I’m following him around.” Williams has the same long-term view as Day. “I have two young boys at home and before too long I’ll be roping with them,” Williams said of his sons Landon, 4, and Carson, 2. Although they’re set for a stellar season, the cowboys aren’t

1. Wyatt Bloom ................ 249 pts. on 3 2. Jessy Davis ................................. 248 3. Tristan Hansen ............................ 246 STEER WRESTLING 1. Ty Erickson ................. 10.6 sec. on 3 2. Ross Mosher ............................. 12.2 3. Will Powell ................................. 14.2 TEAM ROPING 1. R. Day/T. Williams ....... 20.7 sec. on 3 2. D. Bird/S. Sporer ........................ 22.8 3. B. Tryan/S. Levine ...................... 30.7 SADDLE BRONC RIDING 1. Houston Brown ............ 237 pts. on 3 2. Jesse Kruse ................................ 228 3. Travis Nelson ........................... 215.5 TIE-DOWN ROPING 1. Trevin Baumann .......... 30.5 sec. on 3 2. Hank Hollenbeck ........................ 31.6 3. Bryce Bott .................................. 33.2 BARREL RACING 1. Tara Stimpson ........... 39.88 sec. on 3 2. Milee Dailey ............................. 40.43 3. Shelby Gill ................................ 40.44 BULL RIDING 1. Connor Murnion ........ 168.5 pts. on 2 2. Dakota Louis ............................... 154 3. Preston Louis ................. 84 pts. on 1

“It’s a great chance to run at money we wouldn’t normally have a chance at running at.” – TAYLOR WILLIAMS

Complete results/Page 45

looking too far beyond the circuit system. “I’d like to go to a handful of rodeos and get our circuit count in and hopefully get back to the circuit finals,” Day said. “I’m just a circuit guy, and we are just too busy.”

ProRodeo Sports News 1/24/2020

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