by Ted Harbin, TwistedRodeo.com
While Amber Scales didn’t gain the title in the northwest Kansas community this past weekend, Scales posted the fastest time in the championship round and earned all-important points that have her sitting fourth in the Central Plains Region standings.
Scales was riding for the Northwestern Oklahoma State University rodeo team, and she did well.
After failing to finish atop the leaderboard in the opening round with a 17.41-second run, Scales turned up the heat in the short round, stopping the clock in 16.95 seconds.
She finished fourth overall with a two-run cumulative time of 34.36 seconds.
Like Scales, senior goat-tier Megan Turek of St. Paul, Nebraska, squeaked into the short round with an 8.2-second run, then made a solid run of 7.6 seconds on the final day to finish second in the championship round.
Her two-run total of 15.8 seconds was good enough for fifth in the aggregate.
She and Scales weren’t the only cowgirls to make a big move. Reigning national champion breakaway roper Taylor Munsell of Arnett, Oklahoma, failed to finish among the top six in the first round, then shared the fastest-run in the short round with a 2.6.
That pushed Munsell two-run cumulative time to 5.6 seconds, good enough for second place overall. She sits second in the regional standings.
More importantly, the Rangers women finished third in Colby, the same as the men, who were led by the defending national champion steer wrestler, Bridger Anderson.
Anderson won the first round with a 4.3-second run, then shared the short-round title with a 4.5 to win the overall championship.
Anderson shared the final-round title with teammate Colt Madison, a senior from Whiting, Iowa; Madison finished second overall.
Another teammate, Chase Finnell, a sophomore from Freedom, Oklahoma, finished third in the opening round but was saddled with a no-time on the final day.
The Northwestern team ropers came on strong, led by the tandem of Brandon Hittle of Harveyville, Kansas, and Sean Doherty of Kim, Colorado, who finished second in the short round and the average.
Heeler Bo Yaussi of Udall, Kansas, finished third in the first round and fifth overall with header Kolton Good of Western Oklahoma State College.
It was a good start for both the Rangers men and women with nine rodeos remaining on the schedule for the year; three more will take place during the fall semester, with Northwestern hosting its rodeo Oct. 31-Nov. 2.