Cowgirls close in on title

By Milton Ontiveroz
Special to the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle

CASPER - With a College National Finals Rodeo team championship just one round away, the real drama left for the University of Wyoming Cowgirls is this: Two teammates will compete for the same event title.

The UW women have 405 interim team points going into the short go round today at the Casper Events Center. They lead Sam Houston State University by 175 points, while Southeastern Oklahoma State is third at 225.

Cowgirl teammates, Nikki Steffes and Kayla Nelson, sitting number one and three, respectively, in the goat tying national standings, both know that they will be adversaries when they compete in the short round. Steffes is almost assuredly winning one national title - she's the all-around points leader.

The two UW teammates had their slowest times of the week Friday night, but they didn't lose any ground to the rest of the field. Both are saying the right thing: They are glad that the team is on the verge of a national championship, but they both want the same thing - an individual title.

What makes the showdown interesting is that Nelson is the defending national goat tying champion. Steffes, the Cowgirls' points leader this season, won the regional goat tying title this spring.

"I think we will just go for it. This is what we work for all our lives, tying goats. Our biggest goal is winning the team title, too. With both of us coming back that high - and hopefully getting points in the short go - will be huge for a team title," Nelson said as she cooled down her horse.

Steffes said she will employ the same game plan in the championship round: Go for the win.

"It's not going to be any different than all year. We're on the same team, in the same region and we tie against each other all year. Kayla is a great competitor, and like all the girls coming back here for the short go, we'll all be going for first place. It's going to be a lot of fun," Steffes said.

Steffes also qualified for the barrel racing short go round. And with teammate Jordan Hodges, a freshman from Omaha, Neb., also qualifying for the short go in the same event, the Cowgirls will be tough to catch. Hodges is sitting third in the average.

"We've had a great week and a great year and it will be just icing on the cake. I felt that we had one of the best team here. I knew we had the talent and knew that we could do it," Steffes said.

She has led the goat tying event from the outset, setting an arena record on the opening day. She set the pace with a blazing 5.9 second tie that was later matched. She's been a little slower the next two rounds at 6.6 and 6.9 for a three-tie time of 19.4.

"I just missed flanking him, the leg got up behind me, but I recognized it right away and I recovered OK," Steffes said about her third round effort, which was still good enough to keep her out in front. "It was a little slower time, but I'll still take it; it was still a good run."

Nelson was the third goat tier up and needed a low six to overtake previous three-run leader Stephanie Jacks of Hill College, who heads into the finals at 19.6. The Cowgirl settled for a 6.7 tie that cut two-tenths of a second off her teammate's lead. She's just a tenth of a second behind Jacks at 19.7.

"I just wanted three solid runs this week and I'm pretty satisfied where I'm at right now," Nelson said. A year ago, she came from behind in the number two position to win the national title. This time, she must make up two spots. "There are a lot more times spread between the top three girls this year. I'm definitely going to have put a run together and put a little pressure on the girls ahead of me. I just want to do the same thing and be consistent and try to be quicker than I have been all week."

Cody's Justin Viles became the second Cowboy to reach the short go at 9.6 in the tie down competition. He joins team roper Chad Wahlert, who qualified the night before. The Cowboys are tied for 17th place with Montana State University and National American University with 150 points. Ranger (Texas) College is the national leader with 660 points.

After struggling on his first calf earlier in the week with a double-digit time, Viles managed to put himself in contention with a 9.3 clocking that was the second best time of the entire middle round. He's sitting sixth in the overall average with a cumulative time of 32.7. Boyd Quinley of the University of Tennessee-Martin leads the event at 28.1.

"I wasn't even focused on the finals; I was going out there to make the best run I possibly could and everything worked for me," Viles said. He added that he didn't know what to expect on the calf he drew.

"I knew he was a runner, I just took an aggressive start and took the best shot I could," said Viles, who has made the CNFR in each of his three seasons at UW. "I just want to come here Saturday night and get in a good performance. I'm excited about the short go; I feel really blessed running one more and will just go out and try and do it like the past two."