NFR Day 3: Egusquiza, Lord look to reclaim team roping lead — PHOTOS
Team roping partners Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord saw their lead in the overall standings for headers and heelers, respectively, evaporate after the first two days of the National Finals Rodeo.
They failed to post times and catch their calves Thursday and Friday. But their early struggles were put behind them Saturday.
Egusquiza and Lord posted a time of 3.7 seconds in the third go-round at the Thomas & Mack Center. The duo shared the Saturday go-round win with the team of Junior Nogueira and Kaleb Driggers.
All four riders claimed $30,155.46 in earnings.
The run was about as easy as a fast time could feel, Lord said.
“I don’t want to say a 3.7 ever feels easy, but if it could feel easy, that’s probably what it would be like,” Lord said. “(Egusquiza) got a really good start, didn’t have to throw a lot of rope and made it really easy to heel. I was worried if we could get finished fast enough to take the lead, so we tied it and it was a good run.”
Egusquiza and Lord held slim leads over Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp, last year’s team roping champions, heading into Las Vegas. After their win Saturday, Egusquiza trails Wade in the headers standings by more than $27,000, and Lord is behind Thorp in the heelers standings by the same margin.
“Now that we caught one, I don’t even remember the last two,” Egusquiza said. “It’s just hard when you miss a couple out here in a row and it’s 24 hours to get to run the next one. It’s for so much money that it’s definitely stressful. After that one, we won close to $30,000 for one steer.”
Egusquiza’s horse had a misstep on the team’s run Thursday, and Lord said he took responsibility for the mistake in Friday’s run.
Lord spent his day earlier Saturday roping with young kids, and the two were also at an autograph session. Lord said that helped them get focused for their run Saturday, and they both agreed that at NFR, you have to get over any bad run quickly.
“You’re roping for so much money, and it’s 24 hours you sit around,” Egusquiza said. “… You’re just wanting to do good here. This is all you rodeo for is to come here and you want to do good. It’s hard to put it behind you.”
Wade and Thorp failed to catch their calf Saturday but claimed go-round wins Thursday and Friday to take the lead. Driggers and Nogueira are still in third place.
“It’s team roping, and anything can happen to anybody,” Egusquiza said. “There’s a lot of variables, but just to have confidence going into (Sunday) is going to be the main thing. It’s been awhile for me to get a round win, and it was pretty awesome to get to take that victory lap.”
Other go-round winners:
— Jess Pope, Waverly, Kansas, in bareback riding (89.5 points).
— Will Lummus, Byhalia, Mississippi, in steer wrestling (3.5 seconds).
— Zeke Thurston, Big Valley, Alberta, in saddle bronc riding (88 points).
— Ty Harris, San Angelo, Texas, in tie-down roping (6.9 seconds).
— Hailey Kinsel, Cotulla, Texas, in barrel racing (13.48 seconds).
— Clayton Sellars, Fruitland Park, Florida, in bull riding (87.5 points).
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
