Leading all breakaway qualifiers heading into the Colorado State High School Rodeo last month, Maci York needed three smooth, fast runs to win it all. A win seemed like a sure thing for the cowgirl, but she knew better.
Last year, York had also led all qualifiers heading into the state finals - until things didn’t go her way.
“I just had a very bad finals,” she says. “I ended up fourth in state, so I knew I had to improve a lot over last year.”
And improve she did. Although she admits her first run “wasn't too great,” her second and third rounds were solid, helping her to finish third in the average and landing her a state title.
Her rope of choice has been the Lone Star Pink Caddy, but she used a different one at the finals - our newest breakaway rope, The Caddo.
“We got a new shipment of ropes a couple of days before the finals because I needed some new ropes,” she says. “I ordered one Caddo, and the rest of them, I ordered the Pink Caddie, because that's usually what I wrote with. But I swung the Caddo and roped the dummy with it, and I was, like, this is the rope I'm going to use. It feels so good. And you can really feel your tip weight.”
The high school senior, who qualified for the National High School Finals Rodeo in Gillette Wyoming in July, learned the sport from her mother, Jody, who competed in college. She also qualified for the national finals in poles and cutting, but breakaway is her favorite. And like her mother, she hopes to keep it going in college.
“I want to go to Texas somewhere and breakaway rope and run barrels and maybe team rope,” she says.
Until then, York spends her time practicing for July and working on the family’s acreage in Wellington, Colorado. And getting ready for one more shot at the title.
