UW’s Riata Day Second in the Nation in Goat Tying Competition

Riata Day is relishing her final season wearing the brown and gold vest for the University of Wyoming women’s rodeo team, and she wants to leave her mark alongside the great Cowgirl goat tying competitors.

Knowing this is her final appearance at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, the Fleming, Colo., goat tyer was a blaze of quickness on her horse and dismount, and even quicker with her hands, in the first round of goat tying during Monday’s first of two slack rounds.

She was clean on her run and dismount, but it was her quickness and lightning-fast tie that gave her a crowd-pleasing time of 6.2 seconds -- the second-fastest time of the first of three rounds of goat tying. She is splitting second place with Tarleton State’s Tori Brower. The pair only trails leader Mayce Marek, of Texas A&M Commerce, who earlier went 6-flat.

Day, who was third in the final regional goat tying standing this past season, plans to use her experience to reach her goal of qualifying for Saturday’s short go.

“This is my fourth time competing in this arena, so I think that experience plays into everything here,” Day says. “I just wanted to go in and make a good run for a solid foundation for the rest of the week.

“I really just wanted a solid run today, so I’m so happy and pleased. My horse worked out great, I had a great goat, and it all worked out,” she adds.

Day has two more chances to build on what she has started, with Tuesday’s slack and her third-round appearance Thursday evening.

“I have two more rounds to go and hopefully one in the short round. I’m officially done with college after this. They won’t let me come back -- I’ve officially run out of eligibility,” she says with a laugh. “I’m really happy with everything and so thankful for the education and career that I’ve had at UW. I am just so thankful for everything.”

It was touch and go for most of UW team members Monday. Some had performances that kept their weeklong hopes alive, while others had outings that leave them on the fringe.

Results for UW were:

-- If anything, Jordyn McNamee has been consistent the last two days. The Buffalo breakaway roper remained strong in the average when she stopped the clock in 2.8 seconds during Tuesday morning’s slack round, giving her the day’s sixth-best time. That came on the heels of her 2.9-second opening-round time Sunday. She is 5.7 on two runs, with her final attempt coming during Friday’s performance.

-- Rayne Grant, from Wheatland, made up ground after a wide turn on the first barrel and finished with a respectable time of 14.57 seconds early in the barrel racing competition. Her first run was the opening slack round’s 10th-best time.

-- Emme Norsworthy, from Thermopolis, who came into the CNFR as the regional barrel racing champion, posted a first go-round time of 15.12 seconds on her backup horse. Just two days before the start of the finals, her main horse she had been riding all season suffered an injury, sidelining Play Girl for the entire CNFR. Her time puts her 27th in the average.

-- Josie Mousel made her CNFR debut in goat tying and pulled off a 7.6-second time in the first section of the event. The Colman, S.D., Cowgirl stumbled a bit on her tie at the beginning, costing her a second or two.

-- In the same section of goat tying, nine competitors earlier, Landry Haugen, of Sturgis, S.D. -- the only Cowgirl team member entered in two separate events this week -- posted a 7.9-second time, with two more rounds to come over the next few days.

-- Jacob Wang opened up his CNFR steer wrestling run with a decent 7.8-second time. The Baker, Mont., Cowboy’s horse broke out of the box in good shape; Wang had a good dismount and caught the horns, but he lost valuable time when he had some difficulty turning the steer over on the ground. He is sitting 20th during the first go-round.

-- If the calf had not stumbled right when he let his rope fly, Rhett Witt, from Valentine, Neb., would have had a great time in tie down roping. However, the calf’s slippage -- coming a few paces out into the arena -- caused Witt’s loop to skid off the top of the calf’s head for a no-time.

-- Witt’s tough morning ended with another no-time, this time in steer wrestling. Witt had a bead on his steer and appeared ready for a dismount, but the steer sharply took a left turn and crossed in front of Whitt’s horse, leaving the UW bulldogger with no chance at stopping the clock.

-- The second section of bull riding turned out to be a tough go for a pair of UW teammates. Jackson’s Emmit Ross suffered his second straight no-time when he was bucked off early by Flat Busted.

-- And just minutes later, teammate Stefan Tonita was dumped even faster coming out of the chute on Justify. The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada student-athlete also had a no-time in the opening round Sunday, as did his Cowboy teammate.

-- Header Bodie Mattson had a rare miss in the final event of the day in team roping. The Sturgis, S.D., Cowboy and heeler Troupe Coors, of Longmont, Colo., entered the CNFR as the region’s top team roping duo.

“The men’s team kind of struggled a little bit today, but now the pressure is off and they can come in and win some go rounds the rest of the week,” UW Coach Seth Glause says. “The women’s team is still in pretty good shape.”

He says McNamee is in great shape in the average and has a good shot of qualifying for the championship round, and he cites his two barrel racers, Grant and Norsworthy, who are still in the running with two rounds to go. All three Cowgirls in goat tying can add to the production, especially Day, who scored 65 team points Monday and made an  “outstanding run.”

“We just got to come back, continue to do their jobs and we’ll just see how we stack up after Saturday,” he adds.