Practice makes perfect for local team ropers

RED ROCK PARK

Everything seemed to click for the team of Landon Munoz and Wyatt Gibson.

The two ropers had more than 15 seconds to play with in the short round performance on Saturday during the annual Red Rock Classic.

With that much leeway they decided to safety up and make sure they got their steer caught as the emerged as winners of the No. 10 roping.

“I kind of cut in a little bit because I didn’t want to get outrun or have the steer go underneath my horse,” said Gibson, the team’s heeler. “But I am glad the steer kind of dragged so it wouldn’t hop out of my loop.”

According to Gibson they turned in a clean 9-second run and they finished with an aggregate of 36.65 seconds on four steers. The pair shared $5,370 for winning the roping. In addition they also earned another first place finish in the incentive, splitting $960.

“We just clicked,” Munoz said. “We practice a lot at my aunt’s house in Thoreau so I know how Wyatt likes his steer turned.”

The Miyamura High freshman said having that much time made things a little easier “but we still had to catch.”

“We just had to be a 15,” Munoz said.

To earn the high call back, Gibson said they made three clean runs to gain that 15-second margin, which helped calm his nerves in the short round.

“Since we were clean on our first three steers I knew I could do it,” the Thoreau cowboy said.

For their efforts the two cowboys won two buckles, one for winning the roping and one for taking the incentive race.

With the win both ropers qualified for the Cinch USTRC National Finals, which will take place Oct. 21-29 on the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City.

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