
Dec 14, 2024
On top of the world
LAS VEGAS – Tad Williams came into Saturday’s final round of the Ote Berry Junior Steer Wrestling World Championships with a plan. The 18-year-old high school senior from Wanship, Utah, then executed that plan to perfection to win the open division at the Junior World Finals.
Williams was the only one of the four bulldoggers in the shootout format, in which each competitor got four runs on the same steer, with four clean runs to win the average with a time of 23.7 seconds.
“When it comes to these match deals, if you can be consistent on all four head – not break any barriers, not miss any steers – you’re going to do pretty well,” Williams said.
While Williams was clean, each of the other three steer wrestlers had at least one miscue.
Kent Jordan, who finished as the reserve champ, broke the barrier in his first run. Wyatt Newman also had a broken barrier and a no-time. And Colin Fox had two no-times.
Williams went into his final run knowing as long as he was clean the Junior World Finals championship was his.
“I knew if I stayed off that barrier I had the horsepower to run that steer down the pen further than maybe some guys,” he said. “So I could back off that barrier, see that steer go out a little further and go catch him.”

Williams finished with a businessman’s run of 8.1 seconds and then accepted congratulations from his competitors; his hazer, who also happens to be his dad; and the two National Finals Rodeo bulldoggers – Tyler Waguespack and Cash Robb – helping out in the box.
“It’s nice to have a five-time world champion (Waguespack) on one side of the box helping my dad and Cash on my side,” Williams said.
In an interview last month, Robb, a three-time JWF champion who won the average Saturday night in his NFR debut, had a good feeling about Williams’ potential.
“Tad is a high school kid from Utah that I grew up with and have practiced with over the years so I’ll definitely be watching him,” he said.
So was everybody else Saturday.
#10.5 Team Roping
Trey White won the #10 Junior World Finals title two years ago roping with Parker Jones. Saturday, the heeler from Los Osos, California, added a #10.5 JWF title to his resume, this time roping with Wayce McGill of Sanger, California.
“I was lucky enough to grab Trey as my partner,” said the 16-year-old McGill, who was competing in his first JWF. “This was the first time we had roped together in a big event. I just tried to do the same thing over and over and see how it came out at the end.”

McGill and White were the team to beat throughout the week. They won the first round with a 5.28-second run, finished fifth in the second round with a 5.98, were fourth in the third round with a 6.10 and roped their steer in 5.47 seconds in the short go. The California cowboys won the average with a four-run time of 22.83 seconds.
Brody Jackson of Hermleigh, Texas, and Kurt Bean of Ozona, Texas, were the reserve champs with a 36.39.
“Wayce did the hard part,” McGill said. “He roped a good cow and I just followed his lead and tried to heel the cow as fast as I could and the best I could. I had all the confidence in the world in my partner. It was just like a practice run.”