ALVA, Okla. – Trish Price earned the victory, but Karley Kile earned the bulk of the points last weekend at the Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rodeo.
The goat tiers finished first and second at their hometown rodeo, and they helped the Rangers women win the team title.
“It means a lot to me to win this rodeo, since we had a lot of people come out and support us,” said Price, a sophomore of mass communications major from Faith, S.D, who placed fifth in the long round, won the short round and finished first in the two-run aggregate with a total time of 13.5 seconds.
In fact, Price’s 6.4-second run in the final go-round was the fastest of the weekend. Kile, who finished with a two-run aggregate of 13.8 seconds, scored more overall points by finishing high in both go-rounds and the average. It all combined to help the Northwestern women to 345 points for the win, just 45 points better than rival Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
“It actually means a lot for us to win the rodeo, because our biggest competition is Southwestern,” Price said. “To know we can beat them when we know they have the talent to win the nation feels pretty good.”
Kile, a sophomore from Overbrook, Kan., moved into the No. 2 spot in the Central Plains goat tying standings behind Southwestern’s Catherine Stanko.
“It was pretty exciting,” Kile said. “I had a lot of family and friends here to watch, and I actually got my act together and tied a goat.”
Actually, she tied two goats, just three-10ths of a second behind her teammate, Price. What’s just as impressive is that eight Ranger women earned spots in Saturday night’s final round, including Micah Samples, a junior from Abilene, Kan. Samples, who finished second in the barrel racing aggregate behind Southeastern Oklahoma State University’s Ari-Anne Flynn, actually scored more points for herself and the team by placing second in each round and the average.
She also used the services of two horses – Tag, a 10-year-old bay gelding, ran in the long round, while Snake, a 15-year-old bay gelding, ran in the final round.
“I ran one horse over in Cherokee for the long round, and then I came back in the short round and ran the other in the smaller arena,” Samples said. “Both runs were good. I was very happy with it. It was good to do good there and make the short go-there. We had a lot of people there supporting us.”
Through four rodeos this season, Samples has qualified for each short round. That’s probably the reason she’s the No. 1 all-around cowgirl in the region.
“I’d like to continue to make every short round the rest of this season,” said Samples, who transferred to Northwestern this semester. “I want to keep being consistent and getting points. I’m sitting good in breakaway and barrels. I’d also like to win the all-around in the region; that would be a huge accomplishment.”
So would the Rangers winning the team championship when the region season concludes next spring.
“It’s very important to be one or two at ever rodeo, because they take the top two teams from the region to the college finals,” she said. “As a team, it’s important to stay in those races at every rodeo, because then it reflects well on you in the region standings.”
Amy Treece finished third in the barrel racing aggregate, while Alexis Allen erned points in the short round. They weren’t the only Rangers cowgirls to have fared well at their hometown rodeo. In fact, Karly Benzie placed second in breakaway roping, finishing with 5.3 seconds on two runs. Kasey Campbell and Kodi Hansen each made the short round in breakaway roping.
For the men, heeler Wade Perry finished highest, placing second along with his partner, Kyon Buckley of Southwestern Oklahoma State. Tie-down roper Jess Woodward finished in a tie for third place overall, while Travis Cowan placed fifth. Steer wrestler Collin Domer was sixth.