TORRINGTON, Wyo. – After five trips to the National Circuit Finals Steer Roping, Chris Glover of the Mountain States Circuit grabbed his first title with a 9.7-second run in the four-man final round April 30.
Glover, 56, kicked things off strong by tying for third place with Travis Mills in Round 1 with an 11.9. Although the second round was a 14.0-second run for Glover, he remained in the average standings, ranking third with 25.9 on two head.
“I had a tougher time in the second round,” the Colorado cowboy said. “The third round was all fresh steers and mine ducked down to the left fence and I missed him. I was a little disappointed, but I kept roping and trying – it goes back to what my dad always told me, ‘you can only rope and tie as fast he lets you.'”
Once the Top 8 cowboys are determined from the first six rounds, they’ve all got equal footing for a chance at the title. At the end of the first six rounds, Glover was tied for seventh place with Chance Kelton – both cowboys had a time of 63.7 seconds on five head.
The semi-finals featured some of the big names – Rocky Patterson, Reo Lohse, Howdy McGinn, Chet Herren, Mark Milner, Jason Evans, Kelton and Glover.
“I sat there and was counting the guys who made it and thought if they stubbed their toe and if I kept roping, I’d get to that round – and when it came, I drew a good steer,” Glover said. “He was really good and, heck, I did the same thing with him that I did with the rest of them.”
When the dust settled on the eight-man round, only four cowboys were left standing – Lohse with 9.9, Herren with 10.2, Glover with 10.6 and Kelton with 11.4.
“For the final one, I had a big peace come over me and I knew I couldn’t change my plan,” Glover said. “I would rope as fast as the steer would let me, and that’s what I did – I just felt I got off a step earlier.”
Glover shaved nearly a full second off his time in the final round, clocking in with a blazing 9.7-second time.
As if winning the NCFSR wasn’t enough, Glover’s horse, Cooper, was voted the top horse at the NCFSR.
“That young horse did good – I’m really proud of him,” Glover said.
- Jess Tierney set an arena record in Round 5 of the National Circuit Finals Steer Roping with an 8.6-second run – a half-second faster than the previous record, a 9.1 that was set by Bryce Davis in 2011.
There were a couple of changes atop the May 1 WEATHER GUARD® PRCA World Standings. Caleb Smidt surpassed Josh Peek to take the lead in the all-around standings. Smidt has earned $58,619, while Peek is right behind at $57,784. Bareback rider R.C. Landingham capped his stellar April by becoming the standings leader. With his win at the Clovis (Calif.) Rodeo, Landingham has $66,842, just ahead of reigning world champion Tim O’Connell’s $65,067 total.
