Mousel Claims All-Around, Goat-Tying Title at CNFR

CASPER -- "The Hangover" was the No. 1 hit at the box office in June of 2009. Maybe The Black Eyed Peas' hit song "Boom Boom Pow" was being worn out in your CD player in those days. A gallon of unleaded was about $1.30 cheaper during that summer, too.

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That's also the last time a member of the University of Wyoming rodeo team claimed an individual national championship. That was Sarah Mullholland, who snatched the goat-tying title with a run of 6.8 seconds in the short-go at the College National Finals.

Saturday night in Casper, it was Josie Mousel's turn.

The cowgirl from Colman, S.D. will also add another banner to the wall inside the Hansen Livestock Arena in Laramie: All-Around champion.

The last UW student-athlete to pull off that feat was the program's all-time leading scorer, Nikki Steffes. That also happened 17 long years ago.

“I’ve seen those names up there each day,” Mousel said just minutes after winning the event inside the Ford Wyoming Center. “I wanted my name up there, too -- and, to know that my name will be up there now is crazy, because those girls were good, too.”

Mousel, who also won the regular-season goat-tying title and helped lift UW's women's team to a Central Rocky Mountain Region championship of its own, finished with an overall time of 24.4 on four runs, giving her the edge over Tarleton State's Faith Lundberg, who capped her four runs at 25 seconds.

“I never thought about playing it safe at all,” she said. “When I play it safe, I usually bobble. I knew that I had to go for it.”

The Cowgirls, thanks mainly to Mousel's 395 individual points, finished second to Texas A&M in the team standings.

The junior, who added to her points total in the breakaway roping events, won the first go-round in goat tying with a time of 5.8 seconds. She tied for second with a six-second run the following night and landed in third with a 6.2 on Friday.

She said her focus on Saturday wasn't dwelling on the times of competitors or getting caught up in the raucous cheers of the capacity crowd in the Oil City.

“I had my earbuds on because it was pretty loud out there. I was staying in my own lane because I know that the only person I’m competing against is myself,” she added. “I stuck to my plan, made my own run, was aggressive. I was so happy to capitalize on it. I’ve worked for this my whole life and this scenario.”

Just four words followed when she first saw her head coach Seth Glause: "I can't believe it."

“She knew what she had to do tonight," he said. "She maybe didn’t have the easiest goat to tie, and it kind of spaced away from her when she got to him, but she handled him well. She got the 6.4 (time) and put an exclamation point on a national championship.”

Was he surprised at all by this outcome?

“For her to come in, compete the way she did and to just dominate in two events and to win an all-around title, as well, I’m just so happy for her,” Glause continues. “She’s a grinder, she works hard day-in and-day out, and she earned every inch of these national titles.”

The Best of the Rest

Two UW Cowboys also competed in the championship round, and both placed fourth in the average in their respective events.

Traven Sharon, of Ordway, Colo., got hot at the right time during the week, putting together back-to-back strong saddle bronc rides to put him sixth the average entering the finals. And, he delivered with his best ride of the week, posting an 82.75 that boosted him to fourth overall in the final standings with 318 points on four.

Right after Sharon was helped off Uncertain Vagaries by the two pickup men, the UW freshman started to pump his fist to the delight of the partisan crowd. He knew he had a good ride.

“I was trying to get the crowd going,” Sharon said. “I really felt that I bashed that horse, and I felt like I did the best that I could. It sure felt like a good ride.”

He admitted that he lost track of where he ended in the overall average because he was helping older brother, Waitley, who was competing for Tarleton State University and was the No. 2 seed coming in. However, Traven’s older brother was bucked off during his final ride.

Traven was the CRMR all-around champ this past season and was second in both the saddle bronc and tie-down roping events for the Cowboys. His season-long journey accumulated with a flourish late in the CNFR week.

"I was pretty pleased on the last three horses I had. I shot myself in the foot on the first one, and I had to battle back,” he said. “Overall, I’m pretty happy. I for dang sure am ready to come back with a vengeance next year.”

Colton Farrow had a solid ride in the bareback riding finals, but it was not the score he was looking for to move up the leaderboard.

The Greybull graduate student came into the short go fourth in the average and needed a high score to make some noise; however, his 79.5 points on a good horse left him short of his goal. Farrow’s four marks in the aggregate left him with 319 points -- and he remained fourth in the average.

“I definitely needed more points to be able to win it, but I did everything that I hoped I could, but maybe I could have spurred her harder,” he said. “I did the best I could. You just gotta get on the horse that you get on. That’s just rodeo.”

Farrow produced his best season of his UW career, finishing second in the region and, earlier in the week at the CNFR, he was sitting second in the nation during the third go. He had two 80 or better marks, with a career-best 83.75 in the third round.

Glause mentioned that he was proud of the men’s team that put up quite a few points to finish sixth in the nation with 485 points. Clarendon College won the national title with 1,100 points, while Weatherford College scored 980 for second.

“I’m proud of our men’s team, and to have two top-four finishers in roughstock events is huge. Our students came in and competed well. They took care of business,” Glause said. “I’m proud of this team; I’m proud of all the individuals. I am excited for them and the future of this program.”

“We proved this year that we’re capable of doing that,” he added.

* A UW/ Milton Ontiveroz press release contributed to this article