UWs Dinwoodie Jumps to Second in CNFR Saddle Bronc Average

Brady Dinwoodie finally got the opportunity he had been waiting for all week -- a bucking bronc on which he could score points.

After scoring just 64.5 and 61 points on a pair of less than aggressive horses earlier in the week, the University of Wyoming’s top saddle bronc rider finally got a mount that would produce major points for him during Wednesday’s College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) at the Casper Events Center.

And as luck would have it, Dinwoodie drew Frontier Rodeo Co.’s “War Eagle,” a horse the UW senior is familiar with.

Once the chute gate swung open, “War Eagle” jumped and kicked her way across the arena, with Dinwoodie scoring his best performance of the week -- 73 points -- putting him in the third round’s lead.

More importantly, Dinwoodie jumped from seventh to second in the average with 198.5 points, trailing only leader Shade Etbauer. The Panhandle State University (Goodwill, Okla.) rider heads into Saturday’s CNFR championship round with a three-round total of 207 points.

“I finally drew a good horse. I was on her two years ago at a North Dakota rodeo, and I knew what she could do,” Dinwoodie said minutes after his performance. “I made some mistakes that I shouldn’t have, but I’ll take this.”

UW rodeo Coach George Howard says Dinwoodie is in a nice position heading into the short go, and he has a good shot to win the national title.

“Only six or seven guys have covered three so far, and Brady got what he needed,” Howard said.

Contestants with the top 12 individual scores and times in each of the men’s and women’s events throughout the week advance to the championship round. Each contestant is guaranteed three full rounds of competition.

Dinwoodie, a geology transfer senior from Griffin, Saskatchewan, said he never let his two low scores earlier in the week bother him. He just concentrated on marking on his last attempt.

“Getting a bad draw is just part of it -- I just get through what I have,” he said. “I’m not too worried where I’m sitting at right now. I’ll show up Saturday, try to win it, but we’ll see what happens.”

Dinwoodie was the only UW cowboy up Wednesday night. Team roper Brit Ellerman finishes his three rounds of competition Thursday night. Steer wrestler Tylor Bond wrapped up his three steer wrestling runs Tuesday night.

Neither UW team member will advance to the short go.