Jul 28, 2019; Cheyenne, WY, USA; During the Cheyenne Frontier Days at Cheyenne Frontier Days. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Qualifiers Finalized As Timed Event Competitors Move On To Cheyenne Performances

Originally posted on Rodeo on SI | Last updated Jul 19, 2025 10:29 PM ET

Cheyenne Frontier Days is back and better than ever. The timed event athletes all duke it out well before the performances start in order to earn their spot during the rodeo. The top 72 athletes move on.

Everybody runs their first round and by the conclusion of the first, the top 60 move on. The rest will run another one and the top 12 will get to run another one in the performances.

Riley Pruitt has been on a heater to say the least. He is coming off of a win at the NFR Open and also made it to the final day at the Calgary Stampede. He took the round win posting the only sub-10 second run in either the first round or the wild card.

Nice crowd to kick off this year's rodeo! #cfdyotb pic.twitter.com/0CIUUZSWgr
— Cheyenne Frontier Days (@CheFrontierDays) July 19, 2025

It should come to no surprise that Hailey Kinsel took the round in the barrel racing. Her and the beautiful palomino Sister beat out Anita Ellis (who just won the Calgary Stampede) by .08 for nearly an $8,000 payday. Ellis added another $6.715 to the near 80k week she just had.

The steer wrestling is always somewhat terrifying to watch as guys are crawling off the side of their horse going faster than normal with the size of the arena. There were only six guys who posted runs that were faster than seven seconds. The round was led by Joe Nelson who is in the hunt for his first NFR qualification.

The breakaway roping has been apart of Cheyenne since 2021 and quickly became a fan favorite. Haiden Thompson has been a rookie on fire recently and that includes splitting the round win with Katie Jolly.

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Bubba Buckaloo and Joseph Harrison won their set by .7 as the only event that is done in a team. They took home nearly five grand in their quest to be CFD champions.

The Frontier Days put 12 contestants in each performance and the top-four move onto the semi-finals. By the end of each semi-final the top-six get to compete in the finals which is on July 27.

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This article first appeared on Rodeo on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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