# 15 Preliminary
Cinch USTRC National Finals of Team
Roping
Saturday October 20, 2012
Oklahoma State Fairgrounds
By Melinda Clements
It
was a tough, tough short go round. If the #15 Preliminary was any indication
the 2012 Cinch USTRC National Finals of Team Roping was going to be one of
action, compassion, competiveness and divine accomplishment.
Twenty
teams were coming back in the short round aiming at a first place check worth
$18,200 and Martin Championship Trophy Saddles. They were a hungry bunch with a
precisely defined goal and not one of the teams was willing to settle for
anything less than first place. They were setting the standard for the upcoming
week at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds.
If
you talked to any of the ropers the general consensus was the same. “This is
why we rope,” they said. “This is what we aim for all year! This roping brings
it all together under an umbrella of common interest and goals.” It was about
competition, money, and a movement of gigantic proportions. It was, after all,
the roping of all ropings. Now that it had unfolded and finally gotten underway
it was phenomenal.
Twenty
teams had roped toward a specific goal all day. They had battled the odds, each
other, conditions, nerves and pressure and it had all boiled down to the short
go round of the #15 Preliminary. You couldn’t ask for much more than to have a
run in the short go round.
Of
course, there was pressure. You can’t rope at that kind of prize line against
those kinds of ropers and not encounter pressure. If you reflected back you
could picture run after run in the practice pen, rehearsed rodeo and team
roping runs, watched videos, legged up and conditioned horses. It all boiled
down to just one more steer.
Oklahoma
Team Ropers, Joe Macoubrie and Dawson McMaster rope well together. They
practice together because they live close and it works out for them. They were
the high team back coming into the short go round of the #15 Preliminary. They
watched the short round unfold and found it to be a very tough, action packed
and quite competitive round. Only one point seven seconds separated the top
eleven teams. One thing they knew beyond a shadow of doubt was there was absolutely
no room for errors.
“It
is definitely a different kind of pressure,” McMaster’s said. “We just had to
make sure we did it right. I don’t feel the pressure of wrapping up the run
because I know that Joe is going to give me my shot and there is no doubt it
will be right.”
McMaster
had been to the Finals but had never really won anything. His game plan this
year was to just go for it and hope things worked out. When Jim Cooper and
Garrett Tonozzi took the lead in the short go round with a time of 30.52 the
heat reached a new level. Pressure took on a new face and butterflies tickled
the stomach lining. The action took on a whole new level.
“We
work at this,”Macoubrie said. “The money is the reason we all come here and it
is why we rope. I’ve been roping all my life and always dreamed of winning a
roping like this.”
When
the pair rode into the box to rope their short go round steer there were no
butterflies, no thoughts, no plan or even preconceived outcome. There was only
one more steer for a chance to share in the total purse worth $72,550 and a
full USTRC prize line. The cards would fall where they may.
The
pair needed a 9.46 to win the roping. It had to be right, mistake free and
right on track. No room for errors. Macoubrie nodded and did exactly what he
had been doing all day. He roped the horns and set the stage for McMaster to
clean up. McMaster knew his partner would do exactly that and he followed suit.
When the clock stopped the digital read 8.27 and the win was the sweetest they
had ever known.
All
the practice runs, the horsemanship, the game plans culminated in the run for
the bucks. It was, indeed, a very sweet victory.
“Our
practice is very important,”Macoubrie commented. “It lays the foundation for a
roping like this.”
“We
are headed to the Prairie Circuit Finals from here,” McMaster elaborated. “This
is a great win and hopefully we will get back here.”
“Hard
work is so important,”Macoubrie said. “This sport isn’t like basketball, for
example, where you have to be over six foot tall. This sport allows everyone
and anyone to rope and you are rewarded for the hard work you put in. We work
at it.”
