Ganado cowgirl stays in the hunt for INFR breakaway crown
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Taniah Nez stayed consistent during Friday night’s 2024 INFR. Nez posted a 2.85 run in the third round as she is leading the average race with a three-head aggregate of 8.5 seconds.
LAS VEGAS, Nev.
In a field of big-name ropers, Ganado cowgirl Taniah Nez has been one of the most consistent breakaway ropers at this year’s Indian National Finals Rodeo.
Calmly and collectively, she posted a 2.85 run during Friday night’s performance at the South Point Equestrian Center, as Nez is seeking a second INFR world title.
“It’s all about reaction and it’s all about staying calm, especially with my horse,” said Nez, who captured her first INFR world title in 2018. “I want my horse to be as sound as possible inside the roping box because when you’re down there you can feel everything.
“You can feel the nerves, but I’ve already been in this position to where I already know the feeling,” she added, “I’ve already been through it and I just have to tell myself that it’s just one run at a time.”
After three rounds, Nez heads the field with an 8.75 aggregate going into Saturday night’s championship round. Tohatchi, New Mexico, cowgirl Kassidy Dennison is a close second with a 9.09 aggregate, as the two ropers are separated by 0.34 seconds.
Dennison, a nine-time INFR world champ, put some pressure on Nez with a sizzling 2.17 run on Friday night as the world title will come down to the final round.
The two Diné breakaway ropers have a sizeable lead over Oklahoma cowgirl Mollie Bassett in the average race as Bassett has roped three draws in 18.76 seconds.
“The most important thing for me is that I get out clean and do my job,” said Nez when asked about her game plan for Saturday night. “I have to make sure that I stay aggressive and rope my calf.”
In addition to the breakaway competition, the team roping aggregate race will come down to that final run.
Roughly three-tenths of a second separates 2021 INFR world champs Erich Rogers and Aaron Tsinigine and the second high-call-back team of Dwight Sells and Cody Lansing.
The Rogers/Tsinigine duo has recorded three runs in 16.43 seconds, which includes a 6.14 run on Friday night.
“We just had to do what we had to do with that steer,” Rogers said. “I mean, the steer was a little stronger, and we just capitalized and made a good run.”
“We weren’t planning on being a six, but our steer beat us out of there,” Tsinigine added. “There was nothing else we could have done but go and catch that steer.”
Nonetheless, that run was enough for the Rogers/Tsinigine pair to take over the driver’s seat as the Sells/Lansing team turned in a 5.62 run for an aggregate of 16.74 seconds.
With an 18.08 aggregate, the Braydon Boyd/Shane Jodie pair is a close third.
“We get to go last (on Saturday night), so we get to see what everybody else does,” Tsinigine said of being the high-call-back team. “We’ll decide what we’re going to do from there.”
Other event leaders include Quinley Inman (barrels, 47.300 seconds), Quinton Inman (steer wrestling, 20.29 seconds), Joe Wilson (steer wrestling, 13.95 seconds), Jacob Lees (bareback, 248 points), Teigan Gray (bull riding, 235 points), and Jackson Ford (saddle bronc, 247 points).
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow