SWEET SUCCESS Boisjoli-Meged Adds Gold Buckle With Record Breaking Year By Ted Harbin W ith her gold buckle in Montana getting the finishing touches, Shelby Boisjoli-Meged returned to her Stephenville, Texas, home and back to reality. Over two weeks in December, she and her husband
– 2019 world champion tie-down roper and a five-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier Haven Meged – found great success in Las Vegas. She set the single-season earnings record, a Wrangler National Finals Breakaway Roping earnings record and her first world title; he added another Wrangler National Finals Rodeo aggregate championship, setting a Thomas & Mack Center arena record in the process. In fact, the arena record was set on Shelby’s horse For Goodness Shakes “Lil Punch,” a six-year old sorrel gelding. Together, they earned nearly $250,000 in Sin City. It’s a bit unbelievable, even to the two people who accomplished it, but reality is far from glamourous. “We got home, and we had mice in the house, so we spent all night just cleaning and scrubbing,” Boisjoli-Meged said with a laugh. “Haven said, ‘What does it feel like to be a world champion?’ I was like, ‘Well, I just spent the last three hours of my life scrubbing up mouse poop, so can you ask me tomorrow?’ “We ask each other every day how it feels, and neither of knows if it fits in just yet.” That may be the only crappy situation for the two in December, but it’ll be a memory they’ll have with them as they look at their 2023 trophies and accolades, of which they have many. Through the regular season, Boisjoli-Meged’s first introduction into the WPRA record book came with $164,549 in regular season earnings, the first earnings mark that proves how much breakaway roping has grown since it catapulted onto the traditional-rodeo scene four years ago. The next was her single-season earnings mark of $197,706. Finally, she roped $33,157 at the breakaway finals, another new earnings standard.
“I’ve tried a couple of times to make a social media post about all this, and I honestly just don’t know what to say,” she said. “This was probably one of the coolest years ever, and to top it off, we got an offer on our house that we’ve been trying to sell forever. “Between getting married, having a fairytale season, Haven and I both had an awesome finals in Vegas and now our house is selling, this will be a very hard year to top.” While Boisjoli-Meged dominated the season, including the two- day championship at the South Point Equestrian Center, her husband made his own headlines across town at his fifth NFR. He won his second average title – Meged also won the aggregate championship in 2019, the year he became just the second Tie-Down Roping Resistol Rookie of the Year to win a gold buckle – and added an arena-record, 6.4-second run to win the seventh round. He had plenty of motivation after watching his bride of six months showcase her talents just prior to the NFR’s start. After the final round of the breakaway finals was complete, the Megeds sat atop a panel and awaited her turn in the arena to celebrate that coveted world championship. As the cowboy jumped down and walked toward the gate to get an unobstructed view of his wife’s saddle and buckle, he hollered, “Don’t cry.” It didn’t help. Of course, he admitted, he “bawled like a baby” when he won rodeo’s gold four years before, and his wife followed suit on Dec. 6. “It’s been one of those things where my whole family was there, which was special to me,” Boisjoli-Meged said, who plans to switch to Shelby Meged on January 1 for the rodeo record books. “We lost my uncle two years ago, so my grandparents haven’t been able to really come watch the finals, but they were there this year. I also went through a lot of stuff at the National Finals in 2021 dealing with Shelby Boisjoli-Meged dominated the season and also the 2023 Wrangler National Finals Breakaway Roping presented by Tito’s Handmade Vodka. She not only set a new season earnings record but also an NFBR earnings record collecting $33,157 during 10 rounds of competition. WPRA photo by Rodeobum.com (James Phifer)
Shelby Boisjoli-Meged didn’t let the gold buckle slip through her hands in 2023. She set a new single season earnings record with $197,706 to capture her first world title. WPRA photo by Rodeobum.com (James Phifer)
16 WPRA NEWS JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024
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