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Las Vegas • Kaycee Feild of Payson got off to a good start Thursday night at the $6 million Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
Feild took a big step toward winning his first world championship when he prevailed in the opening round at the Thomas & Mack Center with a score of 89.
Casey Coletti of Pueblo, Colo., finished second with an 87.5.
With the first-place check of $17,884, Feild bumped his season earnings to over $158,000. That puts him nearly $21,000 ahead of second-place Will Lowe of Canyon, Texas.
In bull riding, Steve Woolsey of Payson earned $10,173 for finishing third with a score of 84. Santaquin's Wesley Silcox, a former world champion who started the NFR in third place in the season standings, did not score.
Meanwhile, in the saddle bronc riding, two-time world champion Cody Wright of Milford finished fifth in the first round with a score of 83. Wade Sundell of Boxholm, Iowa, won with an 85.5. Jesse Wright of Milford did not place after posting a 79.5.
With his fifth-place finish, which was worth $4,615, Cody Wright now trails front-runner Taos Muncy of Corona, N.M., in the world standings by less than $3,000. Muncy did not place in the first round despite a score of 82.
Also in Round 1, Brittany Pozzi of Victoria, Texas, and Lindsay Sears of Nanton, Alberta, tied for first in barrel racing with identical runs of 14.03 seconds. Ogden's Jody Sheffield, making her first appearance at the National Finals, placed ninth with a time of 14.36 seconds.