Three local cowboys in National Finals Rodeo

Nerves shouldn’t be a factor for three local cowboys when the 50th annual National Finals Rodeo opens tonight at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

All three 25-year-olds have experience at the 10-day rodeo that offers $5.625 million in prize money for the 120 competitors in seven events.

Bareback rider Ryan Gray, a Cheney native, is at the big show for the fourth straight year.

Bull rider Zach Oakes, who calls Elk his home after marrying Mt. Spokane High School graduate Anne Bolich, is going to his third NFR, and his first since 2005.

Tie-down roper Tyson Durfey, a native of Missouri who lives in Colbert, is at the NFR for the second straight year.

All three would have to be considered long shots, but winning isn’t out of the question with the amount of money at stake in the NFR. The total purse was just $1.79 million when the rodeo moved from Oklahoma City to Las Vegas 24 years ago. The event has enjoyed a streak of 200 straight sellout crowds of 17,500.

Gray sits in eighth place with $92,298 in winnings. Steve Dent of Mullen, Neb., is well out in the lead with $151,213.

The graduate of Texas Tech, who now lives in Texas, finished sixth last year, with total winnings of almost $140,000 after placing fourth at the NFR with winnings just shy of $44,820. He finished sixth for the season after his debut in 2005.

Oakes is ninth with $80,076. Leading is Chance Smart of Philadelphia, Miss., at $160,581. Three years ago Oakes was third at the NFR with $75,721 in winnings, which almost doubled his season total, which was $154,876, good for fifth. In his NFR debut in 2004 he was sixth at the NFR and in the final standings.

Durfey, who recently won the Canadian finals for the second time in three years, is also ninth with $72,171. The leader is Josh Peek of Pueblo, Colo., at $153,771. Durfey won $26,310 in his debut, finishing 11th at the NFR and in the final standings.

The area is also represented by bucking stock belonging to the Big Bend and Flying Five rodeo companies, which are owned by Don Hutsell of Ritzville and Sonny Riley of Pomeroy.

The rodeo companies had eight bucking horses and the bull Fire Water voted to the NFR by the 15 cowboys in each event that qualified.

The bareback horses are Cajun Queen, Spring Fling and Kid Rock and the saddle broncs are Kool Toddy, Devil Lady, Sun Dance, Spring Blues and Spring Planting.

Unlike the contestants, who compete in all 10 rounds, the bucking animals are used just a few times.

Other Washington cowboys include the team roping Minor brothers of Ellensburg. Riley, 20, is sixth in the standings for headers heading to his first NFR while Brady, 24, is seventh among heelers in his second, having finished 10th in 2006.

Heeler Bucky Campbell of Benton City is making his fifth NFR appearance, teaming with Matt Funk, who was born in Wenatchee and lives in Oregon. Campbell, 33, who qualified last qualified in 2006 and twice finished seventh, is sitting 14th. Funk, who finished ninth when he roped with Campbell in 2006, his only other NFR, goes into the Finals in 13th.

The only cowboy that calls Idaho home is Josi Young, a bareback rider from Kimberly who is entering his first NFR in sixth place with winnings of $94,696.

Corey and Horst Rodeo Company out of Moses Lake has six bulls and a bareback horse at the Finals. Mike Corey also runs Flying Diamond Rodeo, formerly Beard Rodeo based in Ellensburg until Frank Beard sold it to a Colorado family in 2007. Flying Diamond has four NFR bulls.