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Oct 31, 2014

#11 Shoot Out Friday Oct 31 2014 National Finals


#11 Shoot Out
2014 Cinch USTRC National Finals of Team Roping
Friday October 31, 2014
By Melinda Clements 

          They say some matches are star aligned.  One may even go so far to say they are matches made in heaven.  Regardless how you label it there seems to be a truck load of chemistry between Cesar Melendez and Cody Falcon.  There is just a certain repoire that you wonder if maybe they finish each other’s sentences.  Maybe one dots the i’s and the other crosses the t’s. 
          The pair started roping together this past summer at a USTRC team roping in San Angelo, Texas.  They decided to attend the Southwest Regional Finals in Clovis, New Mexico and it proved to be a winning combination.  Hitting another gear the pair added the 2014 Cinch USTRC National Finals of Team Roping to their resume and one has to wonder what the heck comes next.
          Melendez is a Midland, Texas header who works in the oil field.  Team Roping is his hobby.  Let me say that again.  Team Roping is his hobby.  He doesn’t have an arena.  He just ropes with his friends. 
          “This has been a good year for me thanks to God,” Melendez said with emotion. “I won two saddles at Clovis and I rope just to have a good time. This is my first time to the USTRC Finals.”
          Melendez and Falcon came back as high team going into the short go round.  Two and one half seconds separated the first to the tenth team.  It was a fast paced competitive roping and everyone wanted a cut of the action.  $113,600 would be paid the first place team in the average.  Add to that prize line Martin Championship Trophy Saddles, Gist Championship Trophy Buckles, Tony Lama Ostrich Boots and Western Horseman Collector’s Prints and one would quickly realize this was a life changing event.  Things would never be the same for the team that walked away with first place in the #11 Shoot Out.
          This is what you practice for.  This is the reason we rope.  This is where you hope you have set yourself up for success and you hope you can handle the change it will make in your life.
          Thirty teams came to the short round. A total payout of $462,700; if that didn’t take your breath away nothing would.
          “I rope to have a good time,” Melendez said emotionally. “I don’t think too much about it.  Thinking is not a good thing.  If you are thinking too much it gets in the way of how you need to rope.”  That is probably good advice for the best of team ropers. 
          When the pair moved into the box to rope their last steer there was no emotion, no nerves, no worry, no stress; just one more practice run. 
          “I’m a manager in the oil field,” Melendez explained. “This is my hobby.  No matter what happens I will put it in the bank and keep roping.”
          The pair needed a time of 9.12 to take the lead from the fifth high call team of Colton and Jessie Tate.  It was doable and from the observer’s point of view it had to be nerve wrecking but Melendez never missed a beat.  He nodded for the steer, grabbed the horns and Falcon finished it up like it was supposed to be done.  The pair posted a time of 6.83 and the house came down.  Does it get any better than this?  Evidently not. 
          Amid pictures, interviews and shouts of congratulations Melendez was a bit taken aback.
          “I feel like I’m going to cry,” he said.
          Falcon was overwhelmed as well.  “We never practice together,” he said. “We rope well together. Our styles connected and we just have a lot of chemistry.  We started roping in San Angelo this past summer and it has been non-stop ever since.  We rope well together and this is a good place to be and the win is awesome.  I can hardly understand what has just happened.”
          Falcon has some special plans for his money.  He’s thinking he will share with his mom who has supported him and given him the opportunity to rope and do what he loves to do.
          “I have a lot of support with my family,” Falcon said. “This takes a lot of preparation, hard work and you don’t ever quit.  Cesar and I are a good pair.  We have connected and it works really well for us.  We understand each other.”
          Some matches are just meant to be.  Regardless how they happen or why there are just some connections that go above our realm of understanding.  Cesar Melendez and Cody Falcon are one of those star aligned connections.  It doesn’t stop here.  You will hear about this pair again.  It is just a matter of time.