THE CHAMP: Beau knows Rodeo!
OPSU freshman wins national title in Goat Tying

Casper, Wyo. – Oklahoma Panhandle State University freshman Beau Peterson (Council Grove, Kan.) etched her name in the Aggies’ Rodeo history book by winning the Goat Tying national championship at the 2019 College National Finals Rodeo at the Casper Events Center. In all, OPSU had four team members competing in Saturday’s finale of the week-long competition.

“It’s a great feeling,” Peterson said after finishing as the co-champ at the CNFR finale. “Just to have my hard work pay off! I’ve had so many people support me, it just made it more special.”

In Saturday’s short round in the finale of the CNFR, Peterson entered the round in third place overall, one full second behind the leader in the average. Needing a great effort to overcome the deficit, Peterson provided just that. Her 5.9 seconds matched her best round of the competition and vaulted her to the top of the leaderboard with a 25.1 average with two cowgirls still to compete.

The very next competitor, Mia Manzanares from NCAA I McNeese State, posted what ended up being the low time of the short round – 5.8 seconds – to place her in a deadlock with Peterson. Weber State’s Emma Hodson, the leader entering Saturday’s final, posted a time of 6.3 and that left Peterson and Manzanares, a senior and defending national champion in Goat Tying, as co-national champions in 2019.

In the Saddle Bronc, Aggie cowboys Cooper Thatcher and Dawson Dahm (Darbalara, New South Wales, Australia) tied for fourth place in the event. In the short round on Saturday, Thatcher rode his way to a 77.5 score and a 290.5 average. Dahm’s (Tomahawk, Alberta, Canada) time of 75.0 also gave him an average of 290.5 to knot him with his teammate in the standings.

Panhandle State’s fourth team member in the finals was junior Jade Taton (Coleman, Texas) in Bareback. Taton scored a 64.5 in his short performance, placing him in 11^th, overall, with a 279.0 average.

In the final team standings, the Aggie men finished seventh. The OPSU women were 10^th.

Peterson is OPSU’s 19^th individual CNFR event champion in the program’s history. Peterson’s title is also the first-ever in Goat Tying in the long and storied history of Panhandle State Rodeo.