Wrangler BFI Week Named Champions

Wrangler BFI Week Named Champions

“Gunners” – or the first team out at the 44th edition of the $700,000 Bob Feist Invitational (BFI) on March 14 – will be two of the wiliest veterans in the game. Not only has each man already won the BFI, but each has also ridden at least one horse awarded as the best of the event. Hall-of-Famer J.D. Yates, a 21-time NFR roper who won the BFI in 2010 with Jay Wadhams, will turn the first steer for eight-time NFR heeler Cody Cowden, who won “the Feist” in 1997 with Bobby Hurley.

The world’s richest Open roping rides into Guthrie, Oklahoma, on Sunday for the second straight year but in March instead of June, thanks in part to Covid-19 restrictions in the BFI’s traditional home of Nevada. This time, the BFI will showcase exactly 133 of the world’s best professional teams competing over six rounds. It will again anchor Wrangler BFI Week presented by Yeti, March 15-18.

Egusquiza & Koontz split $154K at 1st-ever spring BFI

Kory Koontz & Manny Egusquiza, Jr.

Performance Horse Photography

Fans watched the greatest jackpot team roper in history extend his record of wins and break the all-time earnings record at the world’s richest pro roping Sunday night in Oklahoma.

Kory Koontz, 49, of Stephenville, Texas, clinched victory at the Wrangler Bob Feist Invitational (BFI) presented by Yeti for the record third time, riding a horse he raised and nursed back to health after a horrific auto accident a year ago. Exactly 25 years after Koontz won back-to-back BFI titles with Rube Woolsey and Matt Tyler, he and Manny Egusquiza Jr. roped six steers in 46.48 seconds to earn $150,000 cash plus epic prizes. They bested more than 130 teams at the 44th BFI, held this year at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie three months prior to its traditional June date.

“It felt like there was a lot of energy in this building for me and Manny to win this,” said the characteristically humble Koontz, who’s a grandfather now and has earned $2.5 million with his rope at rodeos alone. “I’m just a guy trying to rope for a living. In my career, I’ve truly been blessed.”

MO ropers take home $135K in #11.5

Chris Pomeroy, 44, and Cody Stutenkemper, 34, of Bolivar, Missouri, caught four steers in 31.70 seconds to place in two rounds and win the #11.5 Businessman’s Roping for $118,500 cash.

McGowan & Seiler win #10.5 for $70K

Darwin McGowan & Scott Seiler

Performance Horse Photography

In just its second year as part of Wrangler BFI Week presented by Yeti, the 130-team #10.5 Over 40 roping on March 16 paid a couple of grandfathers a healthy $70,000 cash plus saddles, buckles, and a host of other prizes. The team of Darwin McGowan and Scott Seiler made a business-like run of 8.86 seconds on a good steer at the fourth callback position and watched as the top three callbacks missed.

Old friends win #9.5, $55K at BFI Week

A team of New Mexico natives bested 115 other teams to split $54,500 cash plus epic prizes for the win in the #9.5 Over 40 roping on March 16 at Wrangler BFI Week presented by Yeti.

Andreas Sanchez, a 43-year-old air traffic controller who grew up in New Mexico but lives now in Boyd, Texas, and his old friend Lee Knox, a rancher from Costilla, made $27,250 per man for roping four steers in 40.29 seconds. All 21 teams who caught three steers made the short round and earned at least their entry fees back. “It was our first time to get to see the Cinch Timed Event Championships,” said Knox, 46. “Eighteen of us came up here together and got tickets, and stayed the night so we got to see the BFI. That’s probably one of the coolest ropings I’ve ever gotten to watch. I’ve seen it on TV, but that doesn’t do it justice.”

Two days after the esteemed BFI and roping at second callback in the #9.5 Over 40, Sanchez and Knox needed just a 14.85-second run to take the lead. They ran one down in 11.30 smooth, after which the high team missed. Just six teams of the 21 caught a steer clean.

Husband-and-wife team repeats to win $134K cash

Mike White & Hanna White

Performance Horse Photography

For the second straight year, former world champion bull rider Mike White and his wife, Hannah, of DeKalb, Texas, roped their way to a six-figure win in the #12.5 Oil Field Showdown on Monday at Wrangler BFI Week presented by Yeti in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

Last year, the Whites won the #12.5 to split $100,000 cash – the biggest tandem win of their 21-year marriage. On Monday, they roped four steers faster than 250 other teams to earn this year’s $130,000 first-place check in the aggregate, plus trophy Cactus saddles, Gist buckles, Yeti coolers, Heel-O-Matic training aids and more.

“I was more nervous last year,” said Mike. “I put this note on my phone this week that says, ‘Winners have to do more than just win – they have to plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.’”

The couple jumped out and won the first round (for an additional $4,000), which gave them a big cushion as the last team to rope in the finals. By the last round, the couple needed only to catch in 11.49 seconds to win the roping. Despite an especially hard-running steer, the duo stopped the clock in 11.35, smooth, to beat Vegas odds-makers as repeat champions.

Fuller wins $12K

Macy Fuller

Performance Horse Photography

Former national collegiate breakaway champion Macy Fuller of Morristown, Arizona, drew the best calf in the finals and made it count on March 17 at the Charlie 1 Horse All-Girl Challenge Breakaway.

"I was pulling at the line for all I was worth, because he was slicked-off and small like he would be fast," said Fuller, 28, whose 3.5-second effort won the round and bested 150 other ropers on three.

After the top two call-backs suffered no-times, Fuller clinched the three-head aggregate title with her 12.02-second total to earn $12,000 cash and a truckload of prizes.

California team wins Jr. 10.5 for $20K

Eli Green & Chase Helton

Performance Horse Photography

Eli Green and Chase Helton of California bested 167 other teams to top the Jr. 10.5 and split a cool $20,000.

“I was pretty nervous for that last one,” said 16-year-old Helton of Merced, who was in Guthrie with former BFI champion and family friend Cody Cowden. “I kept replaying a couple of runs we made in the practice pen to keep myself prepared.”

It wasn’t their first pressure situation. Green, the 15-year-old son of 10-time NFR header Daniel Green, and Helton earlier this winter won a 10.5 truck roping in Arizona to split $10,000 and tie in points for the truck. That prompted a four-steer rope-off, after which Helton’s family took the truck home because he doesn’t yet have a driver’s license.

In Guthrie, Green and Helton roped like they’ve been partners nearly all their lives because they have. They nailed the high-callback position by about a second, then used a six-second run to smoke the field by four seconds in the aggregate.

“I pushed the barrier more than I should have, coming back high call,” said Green, a freshman in high school. “And Chase tied him on. He always ties them on.”

The pair roped four steers in 32.22 seconds to split $20,000, while Helton also placed second in the first round heading for Sid Harvey, worth another $1,000.

Thompson and Profili top Hooey Junior BFI for $35K

The Hooey Jr. Championships during Wrangler BFI Week are designed to showcase today’s youth superstars, and the Jr. BFI did that perfectly on March 18 for 18-year-old Texans Kreece Thompson and Kaden Profili.

As one of the richest team ropings in the world for kids 18 and under, the Hooey Jr. BFI is patterned after the richest Open roping in the world – the 44th Bob Feist Invitational.

Profili of Jacksonville earned the high-callback and second-high callback positions at the Jr. Open, which drew 114 teams. He had caught four steers with his stepbrother, Jayse Tettenhorst, in 28.29 seconds and four with Thompson of Munday in 26.93, so he stood to split $54,000 cash with his partners if he maintained those rankings in the aggregate standings.

In the finals, Profili caught two feet for Tettenhorst but was unable to get a dally and lost his rope for a “no time.” He came right back up the arena to connect with Thompson on an 8.15-second run that gave them a five-head time of 35.08 and the first-place cash prize of $35,000.🎠