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Sydney Daines dashes to second round win at CFR

She’s one amazing athlete, and Sydney Daines has added another accomplishment to her sports resume. The Innisfail college student took the family horse Flame around the barrel pattern Thursday in 14.622 seconds at the Canadian Finals Rodeo, to win the second round, and $11,089.

She’s one amazing athlete, and Sydney Daines has added another accomplishment to her sports resume.

The Innisfail college student took the family horse Flame around the barrel pattern Thursday in 14.622 seconds at the Canadian Finals Rodeo, to win the second round, and $11,089.

Her rodeo bloodlines run deep, with the Daines name synonymous with the sport in Central Alberta. Her father Duane rode at Rexall many years in the bronc riding, and her mom Cheryl competed in the barrel racing. But now it’s Sydney’s turn in the spotlight.

“I’m excited,” she grinned, moments after receiving the award buckle. “It’s my first CFR, my first go-round win, and I hope there’s many more.”

“We had our first run last night and we hit a barrel, and I knew tonight what I needed to do better. I was ready for this arena, so I had a lot more confidence after the first run.”

Daines is also a member of both the RDC soccer and basketball teams, and in the opening round, she had a cheering section in Edmonton.

“I had my three coaches and nine players here, and they had t-shirts made up saying ‘Daines army’, so they were pretty excited. A lot of them had never been to a rodeo before.”

It may have been an eye opener, and made her absence for some college games a little more justified.

“I think they maybe realized oh, it’s OK if I missed two games this weekend,” she smiled.

The win puts Daines in 5th place in the Canadian standings race with $26,615. Britany Diaz remains the leader with $42,525.

Donalda’s Cody Cassidy was the fast man in the steer wrestling in the second round of action with a 3.5 second run. The $11,089 paycheck moves him up to second in Canada now, but leader Tanner Milan managed to place again, despite his sore knees. He’s $2000 ahead of Cassidy.

Scott Schiffner sets a Canadian record for his 14th CFR appearance in the bull riding, but he rode like a kid in the spinner pen of bulls. He finished best of the bunch with an 86.25 on Rock Show for the biggest payout of the night. Leader Dakota Buttar didn’t place in the second round, but he did ride his bull, and stays on top for the event.

Another CFR regular, saddle bronc rider Dustin Flundra, was in fine form Thursday. He was high man of the night after marking an 85 on Quittin Time, and the $11,809 moves him up to third spot, behind event leader and defending champion Rylan Geiger.

The bronc riding finalists all came out in front of the chutes earlier in the performance, when the CPRA presented eight time Canadian saddle bronc champion Rod Hay of Wildwood with the prestigious Cowboy of the Year award.

Utah’s Clint Robinson overtook the lead in the tie-down roping, after making a smooth 7.7 second run for fastest time of the night. He was second in the opening round, and has already earned $20,590 in Edmonton. Season front runner Matt Shiozawa is less than $2000 behind him.

Matt Lait came into this year’s CFR as the defending bareback champ, but says he didn’t realize how much he wanted to accomplish that goal again until he walked into the building. He looked hungry as he spurred a strong, hard-to-ride horse called Unfortunate Carma for 87 points, to open his CFR bank account with an $11,809 deposit. He’s now moved into second behind leader Jake Vold, who still has $10,807 advantage.

Ponoka’s Levi Simpson and his Colorado partner Ryon Tittel continue to roll towards their championship goal in the team roping. For the second night in a row, they tied for first in the round, with a time of 5.1 seconds. This time it was Kolton Schmidt and Rocky Dallyn who matched their numbers. But Simpson and Tittel are sitting number one with $38,068, and have earned $10,295 each so far in Edmonton.

“We spent all year with the goal of getting to the Canadian Finals, and then winning the season leader. Our main goal here is just trying to stay consistent, and try and win as much as possible. If we can close the door, the sooner the better,” said Simpson.

“To get on a roll like this, it just helps keep your level of confidence up and it makes it so much easier to back in the box, and have some fun.”

Bowden’s Ky Marshall remains first in the All Around race, while Curtis Cassidy leads for the High Point award. Coy Robbins of Camrose won the steer riding round with an 82.50. Lane Cust of Ardmore took first in novice saddle bronc with a 74, with Dantan Bertsch of Eastend, SK winning novice bareback with the same score.

There’s more CFR action tonight at 7:30 at Rexall Place, with two performances Saturday. They hand out the Championship awards Sunday afternoon.