CNFR: Saturday's Time Roundup

GOAT TYING

Kayla Nelson watched through the gaps between her fingers as the last two cowgirls took their runs.

She let out a cry of relief and gave a fist pump when both Wyoming teammate Nikki Steffes and Hill College's Stephanie Jacks missed her average mark by just one-tenth of a second.

Nelson's 6.4-second run, the second-fastest run of the night, gave her a total of 26.1 seconds on four.

"I'm speechless," she said. "Back-to-back, as a senior, going out like this and … a national team championship. Who could ask for more?"

The quick runs by Steffes and Nelson secured the team championship for the University of Wyoming, its first since 1991.

Southeast Oklahoma State's Martha Beagley won the go-round with a time of 6.0 seconds and finished fourth in the average.

TIE DOWN ROPING

Kyle VanBiezen put down the ride of the night, but Troy State's Ben Mayworth walked away the champion.

For a while, it looked like the time put up by VanBiezen, who was 10th coming into Saturday night, would hold up.

After bringing in his steer in 8.5 seconds, six of the next seven cowboys suffered no-times with just two more left to go.

That's when Mayworth clocked in at 10.8, good enough to give him the national championship by two full seconds.

"I've been in this position in the high school finals and I knew I couldn't let the pressure get to me," Mayworth said. "It all just worked out."

Mayworth sat second after the first three rounds. Boyd Quinley, who was first coming in after three runs of less than 10 seconds apiece, suffered a no-time when his calf escaped his tie.

Just five ropers posted scores on four head. Wyoming's Justin Viles also suffered a no-time and finished up 10th in the event.

TEAM ROPING

The team roping competition looked like it would be a runaway.

The teams of Chance Parker and Hugh Bragg and Justin Lund and Alex Watson strolled into Saturday ahead of the rest of the pack by more than 10 seconds.

That didn't stop Weatherton's Cody Tew and Tarleton State's Robert Robertson from giving it their all.

They clocked in at 9.2 seconds and then sat back and watched the final two teams take their runs, knowing that those teams needed times of just 20 seconds to take the lead.

Instead, Parker and Bragg took 20.2 seconds to fall 0.2 short. Then Lund and Watson needed 23.1 seconds. All of the sudden, Tew and Robertson stole the show.

Cal Poly SLO's Kelsey Johnson and Lee Whitney roped their steer in 8.4 seconds, the fastest time of the night, but were more than seven seconds out of third place in the average.

Eastern Wyoming College's Christopher Cover and the University of Wyoming's Chad Wahlert finished sixth in the aggregate.

BREAKAWAY ROPING

Sam Houston State's Kristi Lee had her name at or near the top of the standings all week long and she wasn't about let that change.

After winning the first round and tying for first in the third round, she turned in a 2.9-second effort to take the breakaway national championship by more than a full second.

"I've had the Lord behind me and he kept me calm and kept me positive," Lee said. "I couldn't have asked for more."

The race was Lee's for the taking after Panhandle State's Brandi Guttormson, second by just 0.1 seconds coming into Saturday, took a no-time right before Lee's run.

After coming close to breaking the barrier twice earlier in the week, Lee said she wasn't worried about it on Saturday because she drew a good calf.

Lee's finish kept a bit of pressure on the University of Wyoming to come through and seal the team title.

McNeese State's Lydia Martin was second in the aggregate at 12.3 seconds, 1.1 behind Lee. Lee's teammate Carly McCumber was third and Tarleton State's Kirby Eppert was fourth, helping her to a second-place finish in the all-around standings.

STEER WRESTLING

Benjamin Shofner was 3.4 seconds off the pace coming into Saturday, but he walked out of the Casper Events Center a national champion.

Shofner brought down his steer in 4.3 seconds, the fastest time of the night, to come back from fifth place to win the title.

"Shoot, there was no pressure for me, I had nothing to lose and everything to gain," Shofner said.

Cole Edge's 5.6 was not enough to catch Shofner before Jake Shaw and Chad Edwards drew steer that broke away quickly out of the chute, running their times up and out of contention.

Nolan Conway, who was first by 0.5 seconds coming into the final round, was saddled with a no-time when his steer quit running right out of the chute, securing the title for Shofner.

"I wasn't wishing them bad luck, but I was wishing myself a whole lot of blessings," he said.

Edwards finished second by 0.2 seconds and Edge was third, ahead of Weber State's Coby Hadley, who posted the second-fastest time of the night, 4.5 seconds.

BARREL RACING

After a second-place finish at the 2006 CNFR, Alicia Sandoval was on a mission.

With a 0.45-second lead coming into the final go-round on Saturday, she knew she just needed one more clean run to win a championship.

She did good enough. She ran the cloverleaf pattern in 13.96 seconds, just the fourth-best time of the round, but it was good enough to take the title by 0.44 seconds.

"I just wanted the best, smooth, clean run I could make and that's what I got," Sandoval said. "It felt great … I was really hoping to win this year."

She was the only cowgirl to make four runs in under 56 seconds, finishing with a four-turn total of 55.98 seconds.

Her worst time of the entire week was 14.17 on Monday.

Vernon College's Whitney Gibson was second at 56.42 and Southeast Oklahoma State's Robin Webb was third.

Webb set the CNFR arena record when she clocked in at 13.76 seconds, but that was soon bested by Texas A&M's Elizabeth Sullivan, who posted a run of 13.74 to finish sixth in the average.

Last year's barrel racing champion, University of Wisconsin-Platteville's Adriane Kochie, finished fifth in the average.