#
9 Shoot Out
2014
Cinch USTRC National Finals of Team Roping
Sunday
November 2, 2014
By Melinda Clements
You could actually tell by the expressions on their faces that
the whole scenario was a bit beyond their grasp. You could tell nothing had sunk in and it was beyond
overwhelming.
Louisiana
team ropers, Logan Stapleton and Tyler McGuffee had just won the #9 Shoot Out
at the 2014 USTRC National Finals of Team Roping held in Oklahoma City.
As
they stood for pictures, waited on awards and were scurried from one point to
another it was beyond comprehension for the fourteen year old ropers. How do you define it? How do you
understand it? How do you have time to figure it all out?
The
pair had just split $130,000. They
were also awarded Martin Championship Trophy Saddles, Gist Gold Championship
Buckles, Tony Lama Ostrich Boots, and Western Horseman Collector’s Prints. The excitement, the hoopla and the
capacity crowd in the prize area left both young men in a daze and a bit numb.
The
pair had been the second high call team going into the short go round. It had been a fast action, quick paced
unbelievable short go round.
Thirty teams had come back to the short go round and each team was a bit
greedy and wanted a share of the $532,300 cash purse. Who wouldn’t want a piece of that kind
of action?
Stapleton
and McGuffee knew they had to have an 8.08 or better to take the lead in the
average from Texas team ropers, Sage Good and Ty Harris. The West Texas team had posted a time
of 6.77 on their last steer to take the lead in the average with a time of
32.77 on four steers. Stapleton
and McGuffee wanted the money and the win.
As
McGuffee nodded for the steer he had no thought. He was operating on
instinct. He gathered the horns and
Stapleton captured the heels. The
clock read 7.01 with one team to rope.
Tension in the coliseum could be cut with a knife as the last team
prepared to rope. When the high
team back failed to make a qualified run everyone in the building took a deep breath. Stapleton and McGuffee had just won the
big bucks. They were the #9 Shoot
Out Champions.
“It
hasn’t really sunk in what has happened,” Stapleton said. “This is about our
second or third time to rope together and it just hasn’t sunk in.”
“I
just wanted to catch,” McGuffee said quietly, “You have to practice hard to
rope hard and I’m more nervous now, in here, than I was during the roping.”
“We
got together through our dads,” Stapleton said. “We live to far apart to
practice but in this roping we just wanted to rope smart. I don’t know what to do with all this
money. I guess save it to rope.”
“I
think I’m going to find another heel horse,” McGuffee said with a questioning
look on his face.”
The
pair talked a little about timing, getting out and facing but it all seemed
like small talk as they struggled a bit with the crowds around them, the
flashing camera’s, the ringing cell phones and the interviews.
Tomorrow
or next week this all may sink in.
Maybe tonight when they go to bed they will thinking about what went
down today, look at how it may change them and wonder if they can stay humble
after being tagged up and coming “Young Guns.”
“It’s
exciting,” Stapleton had said.
McGuffee had concurred.
One
thing is for sure when it has sunk in and things are back to normal the pair
will never ever forget a roping in Oklahoma called the #9 Shoot Out.
