UW's Kayla Nelson Comes from Behind to Win National Goat Tying Title |  
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June 19, 2006 -- Kayla Nelson crouched behind the bucking chutes, putting her two index fingers in her ears, shutting out the crowd noise and turning her back to the arena. She couldn't bear to hear or see how Kalli Collins did.
A loud gasp from the crowd told the whole story -- Collins' goat jumped away from her and just like that Nelson became the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) champion for the University of Wyoming last Saturday.
There was no need for Nelson to make up one-tenth of a second on Collins. That was the difference between the two goat tyers entering Saturday night's short go round. Nelson's 21.3 was good for second going into the championship round, while the Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo competitor was 21.2 on three head.
Nelson became the Cowgirls' first national champion since Amy Shepperson of Midwest won the breakaway roping title in 1999. Nelson had a 28.1 overall time in four rounds of competition last week at the Casper Events Center.
Not bad for a Cowgirl who didn't qualify for the CNFR based on her regular season performance in goat tying; she was only fifth in the region. She made the four-member Cowgirl team based on UW winning the regional title. Coach George Howard selected her to give the team some added depth in the event.
Nelson didn't disappoint.
She and her horse came barreling out of the northwest end of the Casper Events Center arena and Nelson dismounted cleanly. She ran to goat No. 21 -- a lighter animal, the kind goat tyers like because they can get the goat on the ground quicker. Nelson grabbed the goat's three legs, and with a surgeon's precision, she completed three clean wraps, stopping the clock in 6.8 seconds -- tying her best time of the week.
She knew it was good -- good enough to win a national title, but Collins, as the leader, was the last tyer up and she needed a 5.9 to surpass Nelson. All the pressure quickly turned to the Californian.
Once Collins' goat jumped away from her, the national title went to the UW Cowgirl from Buffalo, S.D. Behind the chutes, Nelson crumpled to the ground: the news also took her breath away; she couldn't speak as people started to congratulate her.
"I didn't want to watch it, I didn't want to know. It wasn't in my hands anymore and I couldn't make myself look; it was too close to call. It worked out in my favor and I'm just so excited," with tears still glistening in her green eyes. "When I saw 6.8 I didn't think I was that fast, I'm always off on my times anyways. When I saw it, I knew she (Collins) had to put a good run together to win it. It was just what I wanted, I put enough pressure on and had a faster time. It worked out for me."
Nelson said after last Friday's final round that all the pressure would be on Collins to win and felt that she was in the best position possible as the second fastest tyer.
"It's a lot of pressure to be the last one up. I'm so glad I wasn't her," Nelson said. It was Tarleton State's Kirby Eppert who set up the UW Cowgirls winning run. Eppert had a blazing 6.2 in the turn right before Nelson entered the arena.
"Kirby put on a really nice run and it really motivated me. I didn't need to beat her time, but it made me go out and put together my own run.
Eppert placed second to Nelson with a time of 28.4 seconds, while Collins fell all the way to ninth in the average.
"I'm a very emotional person. I almost started crying; it's a huge relief. I just think about all the hard work that I've done. It's finally paid off. I'm finally on top for once. It's just so awesome," she said, finally letting herself smile. Not even during her successful high school career in South Dakota did she win a national title. She twice made the short go in goat tying her first two years and never made it back to the championship round until last season competing for Sheridan College.
"All those other ones were worth losing to win this one," she said beaming.
Coach Howard said that Nelson has the best overall mechanics to succeed in goat tying. He said her ability to take down goats, instead of lifting and throwing down the small animals, is where she makes up time. But it's her wraps that she completes that makes her better than other competitors even though she ties the legs three times, while most use just two wraps.
"The reason she only placed fifth in the region this year because it was so loaded. It was 10 girls deep," he said.
"George is a great coach and I bet he's real tickled to have another title and I'm just happy to be rodeoing for him," she said. "For me, this means I'm the best in the nation this year. There are a lot of girls that are really good. Some girls didn't have a good week and it happened to be mine. It was just my turn, I guess, and in another sense, I'm one of the best and that's an awesome feeling."
She'll be back next season to defend her national title, and hopefully, she says, will also qualify in breakaway roping.
As she left the arena, Nelson's immediate thoughts were to find her parents to celebrate. No doubt, her parents would be picking up the bill.
Nelson's efforts boosted the Cowgirls to fifth in the final standings with 285 points. Weber State University won the national title with 512 points. The UW Cowboys fell out of the top 10, all the way to 20th with 265 points. West Texas A&M University placed first with 690.
The short go didn't go quite as well for her UW teammates. No other Cowgirl made the finals, but Henry Hollenbeck in steer wrestling and the roping team Clayton and Mark Morrison did for the Cowboys.
The Morrisons came into the short go 12th in the team roping average. They had their worst time of the week, 29 seconds, but several other teams struggled to rope the horns and heels. The Morrisons, from Killdeer, N.D., placed eighth overall on four head at 71.1 seconds.
Hollenbeck didn't even have the chance to turn his steer over. The steer shot out of the box and Hollenbeck was off his horse in about two seconds. However, the steer lowered his head and Hollenbeck never did get his hands on the horns as the Molt, Mont., senior sailed over the top, catching nothing but air, suffering a no time.
The UW senior entered the night sitting sixth in the average with a three-round time of 17.9 seconds, finishing 11th in the average.
Photo
National champion – Kayla Nelson, a University of Wyoming junior from Buffalo, S.D., dismounts her horse during Saturday's short go round at the College National Finals Rodeo at the Casper Events Center. Nelson put together four consistent rounds to win the national goat tying champion, becoming the first Cowgirl in seven years to win an individual title. Nelson's efforts helped the Cowgirls to a fifth place finish in the final team standings. Nelson entered the short go in second place, and used a blazing 6.8 second time on her fourth goat to win the title. (Photo by Ryan Soderlin/Casper Star Tribune)
Posted on Monday, June 19, 2006
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