Wyoming team ropers WIN a world title

LAS VEGAS – Consistency paid off for team ropers Ryder Kerr and Case Kerr at the YETI Junior National Finals Rodeo.

The 18-year-old twins from Afton, Wyoming, won the #10.5 division as the only ones among 22 teams that caught all five head.

They didn’t finish higher than fourth in any of the first four rounds of the #10.5 division, but entered Thursday’s short go-round leading the average with a four-run time of 44.06 seconds. Ryder and Case were the only team without a no-time through four rounds.

They kept that streak alive with a 7.23-second run in the short round to win the average with a five-head time of 51.29 seconds.

“Our dad was a pick-up man when we were growing up, so we just always roped in those rodeos and we just kept getting better,” Ryder said.

They did the same this week inside the Wrangler Rodeo Arena. With Ryder heading and Case heeling, they placed eighth in the first round with a 14.29-second run. They finished seventh in both the second and third rounds with times of 10.17 and 11.69, respectively.

They entered the fourth round Wednesday as one of just three teams with three qualified runs.

“We knew we just had to go get him caught … that’s all we had to do,” Ryder said. “We couldn’t overthink it; we just had to go out and make the run we always do.”

The Kerrs did even better. Ryder caught and turned the steer about halfway down the pen, followed by Case catching both back legs. The two pulled the slack tight and the judge dropped his flag, stopping the clock at 7.91 seconds. It was their fastest time of the week.

And when the Louisiana team of Cole Steib and Kayson Lasyone and Canada’s Austin Giesbrecht and Jordith Giesbrecht had no-times, Ryder and Case were alone atop the average.

They saved their best for last when they needed it most.

The team of Kase Riley from Bandera, Texas, and Benton Beauregard from Edgar Springs, Missouri, had a 6.52-second run to give them a time of 38.05 seconds on four head. And Austin and Jordith Giesbrecht had a 12.15 for a four-run time of 42.67 seconds, meaning Ryder and Case were guaranteed a top-three finish. But if they wanted to win the world title all they had to do was catch their steer.

Hank Kerr, the twins’ father, admitted to still being nervous nearly 15 minutes after their winning run.

“That’s the toughest thing to do when all you have to do is get a time,” he said. “I think it’s easier if you get in the box and know you have to make a five-second run. I’m still shaking.”

Turns out he didn’t need to worry. Ryder caught the steer about a third of the way down the arena, turned it for Case and watched his twin secure both hind legs and a world title.

“We knew that steer was slow and if we tried safetying up that wouldn’t work,” Ryder said. “So we just kind of roped where we were comfortable.”

Asked if he felt any pressure, Case just shrugged his shoulders.

“If you do your job, then it’s done,” he said.

And it was.

Later, as the Open team ropers warmed up for their first two runs of the rodeo, Case and Ryder collected their winnings while standing for photos. Among the prizes were Junior NFR world championship saddles, rope bags, YETI coolers and travel mugs, more roping gear and oversized checks … $6,200 for each of them.

“The saddles are sweet,” Case said. “You can win stuff at home, but you don’t know where you’re sitting and how good you really are until you come to rodeos like this.”

Thursday in Las Vegas, Ryder and Case Kerr proved they’re the best.

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No other event at this year’s YETI Junior NFR is more aligned with its counterpart at the Wrangler NFR across town than steer wrestling. Just like the competitors at the Thomas & Mack, the winner of the Ote Berry Junior Steer Wrestling World Championship is determined by a 10-head average.

Through four rounds, North Dakota’s Trey Bohmbach was leading the way with a four-run time of 18.1 seconds after back-to-back 4.5-second runs Wednesday.

“I’ve just been making decent, solid runs, nothing too special,” said Bohmbach, who is currently a freshman at Gillette College in Wyoming. “I’ve been drawing the right cows, hitting the barrier, catching the steers and my dad (Jed Bombach) is doing a good job hazing ‘em … it’s been good.”

Bohmbach had a 5.6 on his first run and then tied for the win in the second round with a 3.5.

He enters Thursday with a slight lead over Nebraska’s Cotter Johnston (19.9), followed by South Dakota’s Terran Talsma (20.0), Louisiana’s Ryden Martin (20.5) and Texas’s Colton Heron (21.5).

With six rounds to go, Bombach doesn’t plan on making any changes to his routine.

“There ain’t nothing to it other than you get to run two steers a day,” he said. “Don’t worry about the next six, it’s the two tomorrow that are the only ones I have to worry about. And after I run them tomorrow it’s the next two after that.

“Just keep knocking ‘em down and trust my dad on the other side. He’s doing a great job, the horses are feeling good and I’m having fun out here in Vegas.”

Bohmbach has not only had a strong start at the YETI Junior NFR, but to his college career. He enters the spring season No. 2 in the all-around in the Central Rocky Mountain Region despite competing in four of five rodeos. The Gillette College cowboy is fourth in tie-down roping, fifth in steer wrestling and tied for fifth in team roping as a header.

“I only went to four rodeos in the fall because I missed the last one to go to the circuit finals,” explained Bohmbach, who won the first round of steer wrestling at the Badlands Circuit Finals in mid-October. “I roped with my cousin (Tel Sorenson) and we got ‘em pretty good in Sheridan, got top five in everything and won the all-around.”

Bohmbach credits Paul, his chestnut horse with a white strip on his face, for his success in Vegas.

“He’s treated me good,” Bohmbach said. “I don’t think I would have bulldogged quite as good without him.

“My dad and some buddies lined him up for to try and everyone likes to joke that the day I tried him I made the best bulldogging runs of my life,” he added. “It did go downhill for a little bit and then I finally figured him out and it’s been good ever since.”