Diné duo finish as reserve world champs at junior high finals

WINDOW ROCK
The ribbon roping combo of John Boyd IV and Cauleen Segay hit it out of the park at last month’s National Junior High Finals Rodeo.

The duo finished as the reserve world champions by completing three runs in 23.34 seconds.

“We were solid all the way around,” Boyd said while noting he was feeling confident heading into the short round.

“I already knew what my job was and I felt like I was ready because we already roped our first two draws,” he said. “We just had to be fast on our next one.”

The pair finished fourth in the opening round with a 7.11 run and they added a seventh place run of 8.93 in the next round.

In the short round, they took fourth with a 7.3 run.

“We just stayed consistent,” Segay said. “I had a lot of confidence in him and his roping. He just caught it right there outside of the box for me.”

Segay said the runner-up finish helped ease her disappointment of not making the nationals in the breakaway event the past two years as she finished one spot out of qualifying at fifth place both times.

“It’s really satisfying,” she said.

Segay’s mother, Vanessa, said she was real proud of what Boyd and her daughter accomplished.

“They have a good partnership,” she said. “They’re always communicating, even outside of rodeo. They keep in contact just making sure each other are staying focused.”

Vanessa said Cauleen’s finish at the state and national level has brought some much-needed joy to her daughter.

“It was hard on her for coming up short two years in a row for breakaway,” the matriarch said. “But her finish with John as the state champs made everything good for her.”

As for taking second at nationals, Vanessa said she’s elated that her daughter got to experience this.

“It really shined a light for her,” she said.

With one year of eligibility at the junior high level, Cauleen is looking to earn multiple qualifications in barrels, breakaway, poles, team roping and ribbon roping at next year’s nationals.

“My goal is to make it to nationals in all of my events,” she said. “I’m going to work real hard.”

For Boyd, this was his last year competing at the junior high finals as he is set to enroll at Casa Grande Union High School next month as a freshman.

The 15-year-old cowboy made the most of his final trip to the junior high finals by placing seventh overall in the tie-down roping, which put him in the all-around race.

“It was great to be in the top 10 in two events,” Boyd said. “I had to work really hard to get where I am right now. That is how I was able to finish that high.”

In the opening round, Boyd took 17th overall in the tie-down roping with a 15.88 run and then he added a 10th place finish in the second round with a much faster run of 13.76 seconds.

He later added a 13.18 run in the short round.

“My horse worked pretty well over there,” Boyd said of Odee. “He pulled my rope tight and he pulled all my calves toward me. He got out like he’s supposed to and he did his job.”

Of the two events he competed in, Boyd said the tie-down roping was the most competitive.

“It was actually tough,” he said. “The guys that roped were pretty fast. You had to be on top of that barrier if you wanted to win against those guys.”

Behind his two events, Boyd placed third in the all-around with 1,140 points. He finished behind Oklahoma cowboy Cactus Cain (1,360) and Montana cowboy West Schroeder (1,250).

Boyd’s mother, Sammy Jo, said her son deserved all the accolades he achieved at this year’s nationals after finishing fourth overall in breakaway his sixth-grade year and in the top 10 last year.

“First of all, he put in all the work,” she said. “We sat down with him after his seventh-grade year and we asked him how much do you want this?

“We’ll do whatever it takes for him to get there and he really impressed my whole family,” she said. “This boy came back from nationals his seventh-grade year with a different mindset and he transformed himself into a fit young man.

“He shaped himself and you could tell he wanted it,” she added. “We all saw it; we just gave him the tools to do it.”