Saturday Lookahead

The 2021 Junior World Finals presented by Yeti will come to a close Saturday with 13 champions crowned in six events – barrel racing, pole bending, breakaway roping, steer wrestling, team roping and tie-down roping – inside the Wrangler Rodeo Arena at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Friday ended with the 19 & Under tie-down ropers competing in their first and second rounds, with the top six in the average advancing to Saturday’s shootout format.

Kase Bacqe enters with fastest time after the Huntsville, Texas, cowboy won the first round with a 7.46-second run and has a two-run time of 16.28 seconds.

Joining him in the shootout are Trevor Hale from Perryton, Texas (16.94 seconds); Pecos Tatum from La Plata, New Mexico (16.97); second-round winner Riley Webb from Denton, Texas (6.97); Koby Douch from Huntsville, Texas (17.47); and Ace Reese from Aquilla, Texas (17.63).

The 12 & Under average leader is Layden Wynn of Lane City, Texas, with a two-run time of 21.85; Guy Raasch of Sweeny, Texas, is atop the 15 & Under division with an 18.41.

Friday morning, Charlie Raye Sohrt, a 7-year-old from Manvel, Texas, thrilled the crowd and won the second round of the Kelly Kaminski Run for Vegas junior barrel racing with a 13.897-second run. Sohrt, who finished second in the first round, leads the average with a two-run time of 28.075 seconds. Logann Busick of Atascadero, California, is second in the average with a 28.304 and Alivia Santa Coloma of Boonville, California, is third with a 28.353.

Megan Lundy of Greenfield, Missouri, leads the way in senior barrels with a two-run time of 27.774 seconds, followed by Morgan Beckstrom of Spanish Fork, Utah (27.785) and Jordan Morman of Gillette, Wyoming (28.120).

The top three in the pole bending average are Brianna Sharp of Brentwood, California (40.591); Cassidy Evans of Fort Supply, Oklahoma (40.695) and Sydni Rae Jones of Brady, Texas (41.003). Gillette’s Morman won the second round with a 19.858.

Breakaway roping will recognize world champions in three age groups – 10 & Under, 15 & Under and 19 & Under. Slade Butts of Okeechobee, Florida, is setting the pace in the 10 & Under division with a two-run time of 5.15 seconds; while Brookelynne Whitfield of Tipton, Oklahoma, leads the 15 & Under division with a 5.66; and Avery Landry of Arnaudville, Louisiana, is atop the 19 & Under average with a 4.96.

In steer wrestling, Altamont, Utah, cowboy Cash Robb is the man to beat as he enters the Open division finals with a time of 17.0 seconds on four runs, Will Harris of Dubach, Louisiana, is in the No. 2 hole with an 18.4; and Drew Clukey of Robertsdale, Alabama, is third with a 19.60.

Clukey leads the 16 & Under division, with Sage Schrunk of Valentine, Nebraska, is second with a 22.0.

Team roping crowned its 17 & Under Open division winners Thursday in Brandt O’Connor and Trigger Hargrove, so Saturday’s focus will be on the 17 & Under #10.5 division.

Owen Clemons from Okeechobee, Florida, and Blaine Burleson from Waller, Texas, lead the average with a 24.70-second run; followed by Jose Gutierrez and Lalito Martinez with a 27.60; and Brayden Israel of Stephenville, Texas, and Gavin Cardoza of Sanger, California, with a 29.90.

Championship Saturday gets started at 8 a.m.