Shane Erickson of Terrebonne, Ore., leaps from his horse on his way to an 8.7 second time in the tie down roping Thursday at the Farm City Pro Rodeo in Hermiston.<BR><I>Staff photo by E.J. Harris</I>

Riders on the first night of the 22nd Annual Farm-City Pro Rodeo set a high bar for the rest of the week, but Thursday night’s competitors had no trouble raising it on a windy night in Hermiston.

The pressure will get a little higher for all of the roughstock riders from here on out as nothing short of an 81 will get you anywhere in the average.

After just one rider broke the 80-point mark Wednesday in saddle bronc, four accomplished the feat Thursday.

Shaun Stroh’s 83 on Bob gave him a share of the lead in the average with Wednesday’s Alex Wright. Bobby Griswold scored and 82 on Dark Shadow to take second Thursday and Jesse Bail and Tyrell James Smith each scored 81’s to give them a shot at some good money.

In bareback, Cheney, Wash., cowboy Ryan Gray jumped into the overall lead with an 87 on Loganberry and looks to pick up a little ground in the world standings as well.

At No. 7 on the money list, Gray beat out world leader Clint Cannon and No. 2 Bobby Mote Thursday.

Mote turned in an 85 on Hour Glass to move into second in the average and Cannon scored an 82 on Muffled Cries to tie for fifth in the average.

Barrel racing got a new leader Thursday too, as Kelli Tolbert squeezed in a fraction of a second ahead of Wednesday’s leader Deb Renger with a time of 34.55 seconds on two runs.

Tolbert nearly was the first rider of the rodeo to put up a 16-second time on the cloverleaf, turning in a 17.1 on her first attempt.

Tammy Bruso was the quickest of Thursday’s riders on the second go, crossing the time line in 17.38 seconds.

After the second day of action, four events didn’t see a change at the top of their leaderboard.

One of those was bull riding, where Ardie Maier’s 91 on Korkow Rodeo’s Swamp Donkey held up for the time being.

If Maier could have been in attendance he definitely would have been sweating, though.

That’s because world leader J.W. Harris drew Swamp Donkey Thursday, pairing two of the best athletes the rodeo has to offer.

Harris and Swamp Donkey definitely didn’t disappoint, but when their 85 score was revealed after a couple of tense moments Maier’s 91 started looking even more unbeatable.

Harris won the round but sits third in the average. Cody Hancock and Luke Haught were the only other bull riders to break 80 Thursday, each scoring an 82.

Team ropers again struggled to pair two fast runs together Thursday as Colby Siddoway and Matt Zancanella’s 10.8 held up for first.

The closest challengers were Mike Fuller and Shawn D. Brown, who turned in a 5.4 in the evening to give them a 16.6 in the average. Travis Tryan and Michael Jones won the evening round with a 5.1.

In tie down, Monty Lewis retained the overall lead despite a pair of solid runs from Justin Maass. After a 9.0 in his first run of the day, Maass put up a 10.8 that was only good enough to move into fourth in the average.

Wes Lockhard posted the quickest time in the event Thursday with an 8.3 in his first run, but a 12.6 on his second calf put him out of the top five in the average.

The other event to have its top score hold up was steer wrestling, but just barely.

Ethan Thouvenell turned his second steer’s hooves skyward in 5.0 seconds to put him just .1 seconds behind overall leader Cody Cassidy’s 8.9 average.

Thouvenell wasn’t the fastest on the day either, though.

That distinction went to Daryl Joe Elliott, who rebounded from a failed first run and was on his steer almost right out of the chute in run two. He stopped it in a jaw-dropping 3.9 seconds to be the first to break the four second barrier at the rodeo this week.