Cruel
Girl Championship
2014
Cinch USTRC National Finals of Team Roping
Wednesday
October 29, 2014
By
Melinda Clements
Girls will be girls except take
note. Team roping girls are a little
different. They are serious about what
they do. They take what they do
seriously and if you think you can outdo them or figure them out, think again.
Team roping girls believe they can do it and they do.
The Cruel Girl Championships is a very
popular roping at the 2014 Cinch USTRC National Finals of Team Roping. Perhaps it is the flair. It might even be the
drama the ladies bring to it but more importantly it is the tenacity with which
each woman displays as she works to make her mark in a man’s sport. One thing you will discover about the ladies
of the USTRC is that they don’t just rope well for girls, they just rope well
period.
Twenty teams came back in the short go
round of the Cruel Girl Championships and they were a tough competitive
bunch. They were interested in the
money, the Martin Championship Saddles, the Cruel Girl wardrobe and the $1000
bonus. They were aggressive and their
fighting disposition would factor in to how the short go would unfold.
With Barrie Smith winning the #12 Gold
Plus Shoot Out the evening before it seemed the ladies of the USTRC were making
definite mark on this year’s Finals.
Oklahoma Team Ropers, JaLynn Harmon
and Amanda Jones were the high team back coming into the short go round. Despite having roped together only a couple
of times the pair seemed on the same page as the short go round kicked
off. They knew they wanted to maintain
the momentum they had tapped into all day and they didn’t want to change
anything. As they watched the roping
unfold the pair tried to ride it out and not let nerves become an issue.
“I really wasn’t nervous until I rode
into the box to rope our last steer,” Harmon commented. “I just kept telling
myself to breathe, just breathe! Take a deep breath.”
“Team roping for me is such a mental
game,” Amanda Jones said. “I have to be careful and not beat myself. There is a
lot of pressure. We just had to beat the
steer and I have to have confidence in myself. I wanted to catch and not play
into the mental game part. I wanted to
do what we had been doing all day.”
As the pair rode into the box for
their final steer there had to be some jitters.
After all the pair was roping for $18,500, saddles, and a wardrobe. It was an awesome prize line and there seemed
to be little room for error.
When Harmon nodded for the steer the
whole world stood still.
“I always have trouble with the
barrier,” Harmon explained. “I was a little behind getting out so I had to
hurry and push a little bit. Getting out
of the barrier has always been a big issue for me.”
However, it seemed to come together
for the pair. Needing a time of 9.90 to
take the lead the pair posted a time of 9.66 to take the win in the Cruel Girl
Championships. Now, Harmon could
breathe.
There was a complete frenzy in the
prize area as everyone gathered for pictures and interviews. The pair was also the Incentive winners and
like girls they suddenly seemed inundated with details, like not having a belt
and gathering up the kids to be in the picture.
Girls will be girls. However, the
girls of the USTRC are a force to contend with and they rope with the tenacity
of a bulldog. Never underestimate their
will to win, their drive for competition and their class. They are, indeed, an elite little group.
