Women's Professional Rodeo Recap

Nov. 15 – The WPRA (Womens Professional Rodeo Association) Finals just concluded in Tulsa. The top women ropers competed for world titles. These gals can really handle a rope! Jackie Hobbs of Abilene, Tx, won the coveted All-Around Cowgirl title as well as the tie-down roping crown.

I had the honor to participate in a new pro-am competition Saturday night. Four teams made up of a pro roper, a youth champion roper, a youth champion barrel racer, and a pro barrel racer competed for bragging rights. Our team drew the lead-off position. So J’Nae Mullen (Okla High School Rodeo) ran barrels first and had a nice run of 16.42. Then I ran and put our team in a hole when I knocked down the first barrel, 21.17. The second team of Simone Dockers (Okla Kansas Youth Rodeo) and Lisa Novak had tough luck when Simone's horse went down and Lisa's horse slipped real bad. Liz Pinkston and her partner, Keely Jo Weger (Okla Youth Rodeo) posted outstanding runs of 16.07 and 15.93 respectively. Kasidy Raspberry (Okla Junior Rodeo) and Whitney Baker came back with competitive runs of 16.79 and 16.23. Then the competition moved to the roping chutes. I was feeling bad that I had let my teammates down, but I climbed the fence to cheer them on.

Our junior roper, Renee Hays (Okla HS), set a blistering pace with an excellent time of 2.9. Then Lari Dee Guy made a very business-like run of 3.6 to put us in pretty good shape.--Nothing to do now but see how the rest of the girls would perform.—First it was Shelby Carpenter (Okla KS Youth) and Kim Williamson. Both had bad luck. Next were Liz’s teammates; Holly Sullivan (OYRA) and Tammy Lewis. Again, the ropes just wouldn’t connect.--I guess Renee put the pressure on. Next was Jacie Hudspeth (OJRA) who had bad luck, but my ol’ college teammate, Ronda Merrifield finished the competition in style with a 3.0.

WWWHHHHew. My teammates pulled us through and we ended up winning! The team competition was a wonderful end to a full week of great individual performances. It was a nice change of pace, and it helped me break even for the week. Thanks J’Nae, Renee, and Lari Dee.



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Tana Poppino
Professional Barrel Racer
Big Cabin, OK
918-244-9401

Discover your God-given talents, give your dream to God, work hard, trust Him, and never, never give up.

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