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“I was going to run hard and not safety up. I would be mad at myself if something happened for playing it safe. “Kiss had a great year. God knew the plan. I had confidence in her all year and I had confidence in Kiss for the 10th round. I wasn’t nervous about that night. If it was meant to happen, it was meant to happen. I just wanted to hurry up and get there. I wanted to get it done and win the average.”
Shelley Morgan was the picture of consistency during the 2022 Wrangler NFR making 10 clean runs to win the NFR Average title for the first time in her career. WPRA photos by Kenneth Springer
Morgan and Kiss turned the three barrels in 13.51 seconds – their second-fastest run of the 10 rounds. Morgan knew the average was hers after leaving the last barrel standing. “I turned that third barrel and headed home. It took everything I had not to fist pump on the way out,” she said. Morgan gave her husband Rex an excited high-five in the alleyway. “That kind of hurt,” she said with a laugh. “My husband carried the saddle back to the trailer and somebody asked him why. He said, ‘I love that horse.’ What that horse has meant to us is hard to put into
words.” Kiss and Morgan have earned more than $325,000 at the last three NFRs. Morgan plans to give Kiss some time off and resume competition for 2023. “I’m not going to run her legs off chasing it,” she said of a world title. “We hope to do better in the winter buildings. Same plans as before. If it’s meant to be …” And it was a good Christmas for the Morgan family.
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team roping together in the Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit. This January at the MPRC Finals in Great Falls, Williams will become only the second woman to compete in team roping. The first was Mary Salmond, of Choteau, Montana in 1988. “That was the plan,” Williams said of competing in the two events. “It was tough at times to find somebody to watch the kids, but we made it work.” In Las Vegas, Williams was helped by her parents Clay and Roxie, her mother-in-law Sherri Bretz and family friend Callie Otoupalik. “You can have one person
Cadee Williams might have had one of the cutest cheering section at the 2022 Wrangler National Finals Breakaway Roping with her daughter and son watching mom capture the second most prestigious title in ProRodeo. Williams won her first National Finals Breakaway Roping average title at her first NFBR. WPRA photos by Dan Levosky (left image) and Jackie Jensen (right image)
help you,” she said of the NFBR rules. “Landon helped me take care of the horse, got notes on which calf I had drawn … I could not have done it without him. “Having family and Callie there to take care of the kids, that was
huge. It let me focus on the roping. I had the luxury of having 100 percent focus. It was really, really nice we didn’t have to find a babysitter.” Williams’ 2023 agenda is the same as 2022.
46 WPRA NEWS JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023
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