By SAMI MCGUIRE
Sports Editor
Rodeo can bring people from many places, different backgrounds and different stories all together.
For Riley Westhaver, that place was Alva. He is a junior steer wrestler from High River, Alberta, a mere 24 hours from Alva. Year-round practice and hearing about Northwestern’s rodeo team convinced him to make the move.
During the Kansas State University Rodeo in Manhattan, Kan. Westhaver won the steer wrestling average.
In the long round he had a 5.4-second run and placed fourth.
“That was kind of a good place to be coming in,” Westhaver said, “in the middle of the pack.”
Westhaver wasn’t alone, though. Six other Northwestern steer wrestlers also made the short round. One of those being Grayson Allred, who had a 4.2 in the long round, broke the arena record. The short round was packed tight, Westhaver said he knew he had a good steer and was excited.
With a 4.5-second run in the short round, he ended up winning the short round and the average.
“I just try to hang out and stay loose,” Westhaver said. “I try not to get too worked up about it. You think it is a more physical sport, but when you get there it is all mental, because you spend all that time practicing.”
Westhaver’s goal is to win the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo., and he plans to get there through practice: mental and physical. Northwestern’s steer wrestlers practice as often as they can, and the results show.
Placing after Westhaver in the steer wrestling average was Talon Roseland and Allred in second with total times of 12.1 seconds. Jace Rutledge placed fourth in the average. Wacey Dorenkamp and Brent Woodward also made the steer wrestling short round.
The men placed high in the tie-down roping. Ethan Price won the average with 20.9 seconds on two runs. Allred also made the short round in the tie-down, but received a no-time and didn’t place in the average.
In team roping, Kass Bittle and Jaydon Laubhan, Logan Wood and Edgar Fierro and Sean Doherty (partnered with Tanner Samuelson of Fort Hays) all made the short round.
The women’s team had many in the short round. In breakaway roping, Brandi Hollenbeck placed third in the average with 5.8 seconds on two runs. Melissa Couture placed fourth in the average, Sami McGuire placed fifth and Sage Allen placed sixth. Aundrea Dufrane and Cassy Woodward also made the short round but missed in the short round.
In barrel racing, Northwestern took the first three average holes. Ashlyn Moeder won the average with 25.06 seconds on two runs. Alyssa Gabrielson placed second, and Sara Bynum placed third. Jennifer Massing also made the short round in the barrels but was taken out of the average by a knocked barrel.
Massing made the short round in the goat tying and had better luck. She tied for second in the average with 13.9 seconds on two. Dufrane also made the short round in the goat tying, but did not place in the average.
Although Dufrane didn’t have any luck in the short round, she ended up cinching the women’s all-around for the weekend. Northwestern won the women’s team title with 350 point, while the men placed fifth.
“We are off to a really good start,” Westhaver said. “Everybody is feeling good and ready to keep going.”
Transcribe
I think it went pretty good. I had a little trouble in the box to start with, and then it sorted itself out. I saw my start went out made a decent run and had a really good steer so I was pretty excited about that.
It was decent. I didn’t know if it was going to stick or not. But turned out it did, I ended up fourth in the long round. That was kind of a good place to be coming in, in the middle of the pack.
I think really well. We are off to a really good start everybody is feeling good and ready to keep going.
Just keep practicing everyday that I can. Hopefully make the college finals is my end goal.
Not a whole lot, just try to hang out and stay loose. Try not to get too worked up about it. I feel like rodeo, you think it is a more physical sport, but when you get there it is all mental, because you spend all that time practicing.
I usually try to keep my mind clear and when you get out there you know you can do this. You’ve worked hard to get here, so just go do what you can do.
Jule hazen’s horse/ethan rides him the most/ good switch
We have a group text going on and we all say hey we are going to practice today and you show up and someone is always going to haze for you. We just all keep pushing ourselves. We all take it upon ourselves to keep each other honest and working hard.