TORRINGTON – 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 in the four-man final round at the Goshen County Fairgrounds Pavillion on Sunday.
Glover, 56, kicked things off strong, tying for third place with Travis Mills in Round 1 with an 11.9. Although the second round was a 14-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 if 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-eight cowboys are determined in the first six rounds, nothing that happened before matters and 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 63.7 on five head.
The semi-finals featured some of the biggest names in steer roping – 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 shootout, 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.
Read more about the NCFSR in the May 12 ProRodeo Sports News.
