UW’s Mattson and Team Roping Partner Record Top Time of Entire CNFR

Bodie Mattson, a University of Wyoming senior from Sturgis, S.D., knew it was all or nothing going into his final team roping run Thursday night at the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) in Casper.

After missing once during the week, Mattson and team roping partner Roan Weil, of Casper College, had a 13-second run to open the CNFR earlier in the week, which included a five-second penalty. The next day, the pair missed their steer.

However, when only eight pairs among 55 teams successfully roped two head, the door was opened for Mattson and his new partner, Weil, and the rest of the field to qualify for Saturday’s short go with two solid times.

With that in mind, Mattson says he and Weil had nothing to lose and went for broke on their final run. And what a run it was.

Mattson was good on his throw for the third straight round, and Weil corralled both heels, stopping the clock in 4.7 seconds -- the best time of the entire CNFR’s competition this week. The pair are roping together for the first time this week because Mattson’s regular heeler suffered an injury late in the spring season.

“This is no excuse, but we’ve dang sure drawn on the stronger end this week, and it’s been harder, but we finally drew a good one tonight that kind of gave us a chance out there,” Mattson says. “We knew we could have a chance to win the round and make up some time to potentially come back for Saturday. It dang sure was a good feeling to cap off the week this way.”

The pair know that there are still teams left tonight (Friday) that could bump them from being among the 12 top roping teams advancing to the championship round.

“You can’t bank on everybody missing stuff, so we wanted to go out there tonight and just make a good run,” Mattson says. “I sure hope we do win the round. It really was a great feeling out there tonight in front of the home crowd.”

Three other UW teammates of Mattson also had chances to earn bids to the championship round, which features the top 12 individual times and scores throughout three rounds of competition this week. But, only one of them is on the brink and has to wait one more night to learn his fate.

Bulldogger David Gallagher, of Brighton, Colo., made a successful third steer wrestling run, stopping the clock in 6.5 seconds, giving him a three-head time of 28 seconds. He’s sitting in the 12th and final position to qualify for the short go. He opened the week with the first round’s second-best time of 4.7 seconds, but a 9.8-second run leaves him hanging on for one more night.

Kenna McNeill, from Hobbs, N.M., closed out her UW barrel racing career in a time of 14.63, her slowest time of the week. She had back-to-back 14.45-second runs earlier in the week. Her three-round time of 43.53 leaves her 13th in the average -- just one place out of the top 12.

And, Olivia Lay, from Elbert, Colo., was just one good run away from qualifying for her first CNFR short-go bid. She will have to wait another year to try again.

The UW junior was sitting strong in the breakaway standings, sixth after the second round, but Thursday night it did not go her way. Her horse broke cleanly out of the box, Lay got her throw out, but the rope was not long enough to go over the calf’s snout, and the loop slipped over its head.

Lay had a 3.5-second run Sunday and was even better during Tuesday’s slack. She stopped the clock in 2.2 seconds, sixth-best time of the second round, for an aggregate time of 5.7 seconds, putting her among the contenders.

Competing tonight to close out the third round will be UW team members Riata Day, of Fleming, Colo., in goat tying; Greybull’s Colton Farrow in bareback riding; Mattson in tie down roping; Cheyenne’s Jordyn McNamee in breakaway roping; Rio Nutter, from Rapid City, S.D., and Laramie County Community College’s Reece Wadhams in team roping; and Gillette’s Quincy Reynolds and Trevor Sorge, of Gillette College, in team roping.