In the same arena last year as the BFI and just a couple of days after it, Whitney DeSalvo of Wilmar, Arkansas, hammered 11 of 12 steers on the second hop in the Charlie 1 Horse All-Girl in Guthrie, Oklahoma – and if her mare, Becky, hadn’t bucked on the first one, she’d surely have batted a thousand.
On the heels of pandemic-prompted civic uncertainty in Nevada that forced the last-minute cancellation in Las Vegas of the World Series of Team Roping Finale, organizers of Wrangler Bob Feist Invitational (BFI) Week have good news.
At the Charlie 1 Horse All-Girl Challenge Team Roping on June 24, Whitney DeSalvo of Springfield, Arkansas, left no doubt about her status as the world’s best female heeler.
DeSalvo, just 25, took the top three placings with three different partners to haul a staggering $28,875 in cash back to Arkansas plus a truckload of prizes. The three-time WPRA world champion won the roping with Hope Thompson of Abilene, Texas, who raked in $20,750 total.
Good friends Mark Collins and Max Vincent were moved to tears and long hugs after their $61,500 win in the first-ever 10.5 roping during Wrangler BFI Week presented by Yeti, held at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
“To be able to drive two hours from the house and win life-changing money is incredible,” said Collins, who owns a lumber yard and hardware store in tiny Leedey.
Coming from the fourth callback position in Guthrie, Oklahoma, on June 22, team roping couple Hannah and Mike White of Dekalb, Texas, notched the biggest tandem win of their 21-year marriage.The duo roped four steers in 34.09 seconds to split…
By just seven hundredths of a second over six steers, professional team ropers Kal Fuller of Bozeman, Montana, and Reagan Ward of Purcell, Oklahoma, won the richest event of their sport and split a first-place paycheck worth a record $150,000 at the 43rd Annual Bob Feist Invitational. The event is part of Wrangler BFI Week presented by Yeti, held for the first time inside the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma, since its usual venue in Reno, Nevada, was shut down due to the pandemic.
“Words can’t describe this,” said Ward, who won in virtually his hometown, riding a horse he bought from world champion Kollin Von Ahn. “My header is pretty phenomenal. I’ve never met a 20-year-old that can do the stuff he can do. Most people can’t even do what he can do.”
Jordan Lovins of Canadian, Texas, had never been to the Bob Feist Invitational. But when he heard that Wrangler BFI Week, presented by Yeti, moved to his neighboring Oklahoma from Reno, Nevada, he “was all over it.”
Lovins, 17, hauled his steers to his local fairgrounds to practice under BFI-like dimensions and found someone with fresh steers so he could practice on a herd similar to the hard-running set of BFI Week. He capitalized by winning first and second – switching ends – for $15,900 in the third annual Hooey Junior BFI.
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