Chips fall for all-around winners: Kayden Stevenson, Lariat Nahkai

CHURCH ROCK, N.M.

The all-around titles snuck up on Kayden Stevenson and Lariat Nahkai.

The two teenagers weren’t expecting to win those coveted titles during Saturday’s Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial Junior Rodeo at Red Rock Park.

“I feel really good about it, but I didn’t think I was gonna win,” said Stevenson, who was crowned the senior boys all-around champ. “I’ve been on a slump recently, and now that I won this, I feel blessed. I’m happy that I got it.”

As for Nahkai, she secured the title with a second-place finish in the team roping as Arizona cowgirl Oodessa Barlow made her work for the all-around crown.

“She’s really good,” Nahkai said of Barlow. “She’s one of those cowgirls to look out for. I just did enough to win it.”

The win on Saturday was Nahkai’s second all-around title at the Ceremonial junior rodeo, which bodes well for the recent Gallup High graduate.

“This is last year doing junior rodeo,” she said, “so I’m trying to hit as many as I can before I step into the real world and compete in the open (rodeos).”

The annual junior rodeo also crowned Bristol Towne (midget) and siblings Caleb (peewee) and Cauleen Segay (juniors) as all-around winners. The quintet were gifted hat certificates while each event winners were awarded denim jackets.

Stevenson, 17, competed in three events as he earned 28 points for finishing first in the tie-down event while adding a pair of runner-up finishes in the chute dogging and team roping.

Of those events, Stevenson surprised himself with a 2.54 run in the chute dogging, which was second behind event winner Lander Willie, who posted a first place run of 2.25 seconds.

“The chute dogging is not my strongest event, so I was thinking that I needed to get my steer down,” Stevenson said. “When I got it down, I kind of felt like it gave me a chance to win the all-around.”

Stevenson then won the tie-down event with a 16.01 effort while Willie took a distant second at 33.63 seconds.

In the team roping, Stevenson had two runs, but he missed for one of his partners. On his second run though, he produced a 9.49 run with his cousin, Jarson Stevenson. The pair finished behind the team of Colton Begay and Diem Elliot.

“I think I was nervous, so I missed,” Stevenson said of his first run.

But on his second run, Jarson gave him a great handle as the 2025 Crownpoint High graduate roped two feet.

“That was redemption right there,” Stevenson said. “I just came around and did what I needed to do, which was to catch two feet.”

As the all-around winner, Stevenson will have his entries paid for an old-school event on Sunday afternoon.

“I haven’t chosen my event, but I want to do buffalo riding,” he said. “But I’ll probably do the wild cow milking or the pony express race.”

Nahkai tallied 41 points in her all-around win, which includes a first-place win in the barrel racing.

“I’ve been barrel racing off Latte for a while,” Nahkai said of her horse. “She did good. I still have to do my part, too, because sometimes I lean too much, or I drop my hands too much.”

In the poles, Nahkai finished second to Barlow, who won the event in 21.553 seconds. Nahkai finished nearly two seconds back at 23.118.

“I just had to be smooth,” Nahkai said. “That is all you have to do. You don’t have to be fast; you just have to keep (the poles) standing.”

The Sagebrush, New Mexico cowgirl added a second place run of 9.07 second in the senior girls team roping, which was won by Alondra Robbins (8.53).

“It’s really fun, and I enjoy it,” Nahkai said of team roping.

Nahkai also earned points in the breakaway and goat tying events even though she had some mishaps.

“I broke out, and I caught my calf using my second loop,” she said of her breakaway run.

In the goats, Nahkai stumbled before posting a time.

“That’s not my event,” she said. “My leg got twisted and I just kind of scorpion my fall.”

As for the old school event, Nahkai is looking at forming a cow milking team for Sunday afternoon. She’s already entered in the pony express ride and in the open barrels and breakaway events.

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