By Naomi Loomis, WSRRA Representative
The eighth-annual Western States Ranch Rodeo Association National Finals was held November 2 – November 5 at the Winnemucca Events Complex in Winnemucca, Nevada. The Western States Ranch Rodeo Association (WSRRA) continues to experience solid support in thirteen states and Canada with teams coming from as far away as Nebraska and Wyoming plus, four teams from Canada. Established in 2010, the WSRRA has experienced incredible growth, each year growing in number of events and members. The association currently has more than 700 members.
Throughout 2017, WSRRA sanctioned more than 49 open ranch rodeos, 20 women’s ranch rodeos, 25 women’s steer stoppings and over 100 ranch bronc riding events. The top open and women’s teams from each of the ranch rodeos, and the top 15 women’s steer stoppers, and top 15 ranch bronc riders competed for cash and prizes at the National Finals.
The 2017 WSRRA Cowboy Crisis silent auction recipients were Clay Ashurst and Toby Vineyard. The silent auction was very successful and the live auction for a Chaz Mitchel Custom Hat was sold twice.
The Nationals Finals kicked off Thursday with the women’s long go working ranch horse, followed by women’s team roping, trailer loading, tie-down steer roping, sort & rope doctoring, and team branding. A huge variety of vendors participated in the Christmas Buckaroo Trade Show. Jackpot roping events finished the action for the day; the winners were Quirt Boyles and Tim Maher in the Big Loop, Raymond Plant and Gordy Nichols in the team roping and Monel Shelly in the women’s steer stopping.
Friday, November 3, one member of each open team started the day showing off their highly skilled ranch horses. Then the teams competed in long go events of load & tie and team roping. The evening’s performance featured a “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” theme. Grand Marshall and 1st Annual Nelo Mori Heritage of Ranching Award, Nelo Mori from Nevada, made an exciting grand entrance in a refurbished horse drawn stagecoach. If that wasn’t enough, the first two rounds of the Professional Wild Horse Racers Association (PWHRA) national finals got everyone’s blood pumping! Rodeo clown, Tuffy Gessling entertained the crowd with his rope tricks and laughs. In between specialty acts, WSRRA ranch bronc riders and open and women’s teams showed their talents in featured performances.
Saturday morning started with two rounds of Women’s Steer Stopping rounds 1 & 2, followed by open team long go’s of sort & rope doctoring, and team branding. Later in the day WSRRA National Sponsor, the Boot Barn, sponsored a dummy roping contest and a stick horse barrel race for the kids. The second annual Great Basin Gathering; music, poetry and trading gear was a spotlighted event. Afternoon rodeo action featured jackpot family branding won by Will Knight, Jessica Kelly, Junior Kelly and Garrett Brown. As the sun was going down, the second evening performance started. Featured performances of more of the open and women’s teams, along with two rounds each of PWHRA and WSRRA ranch bronc riding kept the arena dust stirred up and the crowd’s excitement high! Performances by Tuffy Gessling livened up the evening’s fun. Saturday ended with year-end and long go awards at The Winners at Winners WSRRA awards party, followed by dancing to music by the Jeff Palmer Band, both hosted by the Winners Inn & Casino.
Sunday, November 5th, WSRRA held a well-attended Cowboy Church with Bo and Kathy Lowe. After Cowboy Church, WSRRA held the short go of the national finals for the open and women’s divisions and the final rounds of PWHRA wild horse racing, women’s steer stopping and WSRRA ranch bronc riding. At the end of the afternoon, the Champions were crowned.
Congratulations to all the contestants not just the winners. First time visitors to the event were totally impressed with the quality of the competition and the stock. A huge thank you to all the office help, chute help, announcers, judges, vendors and stock contractors. Make plans to attend a sanctioned WSRRA Ranch Rodeo in 2018!!
WSRRA Champs
(Returning) World Champion Open Ranch Rodeo Team: Anipro from Oregon
Members: Teo Maestrejuan, Richard Eiguren, Shawn Lequerica, Brian Grenke
(Returning) World Champion Women’s Ranch Rodeo Team: Miller Livestock from Idaho
Members: Carmen Buckingham, Katie McFarlane, Kayla Tiegs and Bailey Bachman
World Champion Women’s Steer Stopper: Chelsea Hoff
World Champion Ranch Bronc Rider: Aaron Mercer
ALL AROUND COWGIRL: Katie Cavasin
ALL AROUND COWBOY: Barry O’Leary
TOP HAND COWGIRL: Carmen Buckingham
TOP HAND COWBOY: Richard Eiguren
The broncs were on fire at the WSRRA eighth-annual National Finals held November 2 – 5, 2017 at the Winnemucca Events Complex in Winnemucca, Nevada.
WRRA 2017 FINALS
By Cheyenne Glade Wilson
The WRRA proudly produced their 13th World Finals on September 8th and 9th, 2017 in Dodge City, Kansas. 15 teams from Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas competed in three rodeos to determine the World Finals and Year End Average Winners. Broken Diamond of Kansas and Nebraska took home the honors of the WRRA World Finals Average. T&M Cattle of New Mexico and Texas accomplished the title of WRRA Year End Champions. Following are the rodeo results:
Average of Events Winning Team:
Branding: 1st Broken Diamond – 55 points
Doctoring: 1st Halsell Ranch – 56 points
Sorting: 1st Queen of Diamonds – 56 points
Tie Down/Mugging: 1st Broken Diamond – 53 points
Trailer Loading: 1st 3KS Cattle Co – 51.5 points
Overall Average:
1st Broken Diamond – 231 points
2nd T&M Cattle – 225 points
3rd/4th Daughter’s-in-Law – 217 points
3rd/4th River Bend Ranch – 217 points
5th Rocking M – 216 points
November 1, 2017 begins our new 2018 season. We are excited about the coming year and are working harder than ever to make this coming year a huge success. We are currently booking rodeos for our new season with qualifications to our World Finals in September. If you are interested in producing a sanctioned WRRA rodeo please contact Sarah Kucera at 308-520-5084. We are looking forward to a year of growth and promoting our association to new regions this year while expanding upon the areas we are in already. We are also excited to be partnering with new national sponsors to be announced. If you would like an opportunity to partner with us please contact Cheyenne Wilson at 605-891-1827.
For more information about our association visit our website at womensranchrodeo.org and our social media outlets. See you on the WRRA rodeo trail in 2018!
WRCA 2017 FINALS
Report by Shaie Williams
The 22nd World Championship Ranch Rodeo 2017 kicked off Wednesday evening November 8, 2017 with a team introduction and celebration. At the end of Sunday’s show the totals added up and the new World Champion Team was named officially during the award ceremony that evening. The 2017 WRCA World Champion Team is Wilson Cattle & Haystack Cattle Company. Wilson Cattle comes from Canyon, Texas and Haystack Cattle Company from Dickens, Texas. The team consists of Rodey Wilson, Clay Paige, Jed Middleton, Tanner Allen and Mike Crump all from Texas with a large support of family members cheering them on.
Wilson Cattle has qualified 13 times to the World Championship Ranch Rodeo. They run between 8,000-10,000 head of cattle on grass and wheat. Haystack Cattle Company runs 1,200-1,500 mama cows in West Texas and a small mare band to boot.
“Jed Middleton and I have known each other for years and grew up rodeoing together,” says Rodey Wilson team captain. “It just made sense to form a team. All the guys on the team work together.”
There are twenty three teams that qualified and participate in this year’s World Championship Ranch Rodeo. The fact that these teams made it this far is a tribute to their talents, abilities and hard work. Some of the teams showed up short handed due to injuries but still put on the performances of a lifetime. They show the human nature of the working cowboy that says you deal with what you have been given. Make the best of it and go on. The Detwiler Cattle Co & Heck Cattle Co team competed in several events with just a three-man team. The Wild Cow Milking and Stray Gathering events are a great testament to this. The team performed well even though they are shorthanded. They become a crowd favorite as the underdogs.
The crowds grew from Thursday evening to a sold out crowd at Saturday night’s performance. The finals come down to a few teams pulling away on Sunday. Wilson Cattle & Haystack Cattle Co along with Burns Ranch, Lonesome Pine Ranch and last year’s World Champions Jolly Ranch & S&L Ranch ended up in a close running for the title.
Sunday is the chance to turn it up a notch or two, and it happens in several of the events. The arena record was broken not once but twice Sunday for the Team Penning event. Broken H Ranch & Hebb Cattle team start it with a new record of 26.05 only to hold the record for a few minutes until Diamond H & +C Cattle Company do it in 22.82 seconds for an even newer arena record.
When the official results came in on Sunday night here’s how the teams did.
World Champion Team
Wilson Cattle and Haystack Cattle Co.
Reserve World Champion Team
Burns Ranch
Top Hand
Connor Grokett of Robbins Ranch and Keith Cattle Co.
Top AQHA Ranching Heritage-Bred American Quarter Horse
TRR Sharlena Kat, ridden by T.J. Roberts of Tongue River Ranch
Top American Quarter Horse
Razzle Dalle Rey, ridden by John C. Brian of Veale Ranch and Triangle Ranch
Top WCRR Horse
Razzle Dalle Rey, ridden by John C. Brian of Veale Ranch and Triangle Ranch
Ranch Bronc Riding
Burns Ranch/Colten Mayo
Stray Gathering
Robbins Ranch and Keith Cattle Co.
Team Penning
Broken H Ranch and Hebb Cattle
Wild Cow Milking
Wilson Cattle and Haystack Cattle Co.
Team Branding
Jolly Ranch and S&L Ranch
Shaie Williams
The 2017 WRCA World Champion Team is Wilson Cattle & Haystack Cattle Company. Wilson Cattle hails from Canyon, Texas and Haystack Cattle Company from Dickens, Texas.
