MONUMENTAL WIN Williams Wins RodeoHouston Title, Extends Lead in World Standings By Joe Kusek T he messages just kept coming. Hali Williams would answer one and two more would pop up on her cell phone. Good news, big news, was traveling fast. Williams won the $50,000 Championship Shootout for breakaway roping at RodeoHouston.
The cowgirl from Comanche, Texas earned $56,250 at NRG Stadium, Feb. 28-March 19. It more than doubled her season earnings coming into the event and extended her lead in the WPRA world standings. “Oh man, it’s awesome,” Williams said of the biggest WPRA check of her young career. “When you’re competing, you’re just trying to make good runs. The feeling is indescribable. I don’t know if it still has sunk in yet. “It does mean a lot.” Williams, aboard her horse Red Light, won with a throw of 3.6 seconds in the Championship Shootout Round. “Usually 3.6 doesn’t place,” said the daughter of eight-time team roping world champion and ProRodeo Hall of Fame member Speed Williams. “If it went like that, I didn’t expect to win.” Williams was the first one out and had to watch the others throw their loops. Two-time National Finals Breakaway Roping qualifier Joey Williams was the first to try to beat the time and while tit briefly looked like she had done it a broken barrier would crush her hopes ending in a time of 12.5. Cheyenne Frontier Days champion Tiffany Schieck would also incur a speeding ticket with a 12.5. Then 17-time WPRA World Champion (three of which are in breakaway roping) J.J. Hampton took a no time. “Winning was like walking on a cloud,” said Williams, who was a WPRA rookie in 2022. The Texas teenager estimates she had 150 congratulatory messages from family and friends. More on other social media platforms. “I tried to respond to all of them,” said the 19-year-old. “I remember sending texts to people and them responding. I appreciate it so much.” Some of the messages went straight to her heart. “I was getting super sweet messages from girls 14, 15, 16 years old, saying they were going to start roping because of me,” added Williams. “I don’t think I’m a role model. I’m not up there yet.” After missing her first calf, “I missed terribly. I lost my hat, everything went wrong. I just had to forget about that run,” Williams managed with a laugh. She rebounded to win the second round of Super Series 5 with a time of 2.9 seconds to earn $3,000 and the chance to move on. She was 13.3 in the Super Series Semifinal 2 to place fourth and keep roping. Williams delivered a throw of 2.5 seconds to place fourth in the championship round and get the opportunity to catch $50,000. “In Houston, there is room on the left side, not much room on the right. Ninety percent of the calves go left or straight. I had a calf that went straight,” said Williams. “The biggest drama was watching everybody else. Did that just happen? I was loosening up my horse and they shoved me toward interviews.” Williams understands the money won was the result of work done
by breakaway ropers before her. “For sure,” she said. “The generation before us … Jackie (Crawford), LD (Lari Dee Guy), JJ, Hope Thompson … all laid the groundwork before us. How can you not be thankful?” Williams came close to never riding Red Light. The seven-year-old sorrel gelding out of Shiney Night Light and sired by Stylish Rey Gay, was Williams first big investment. She purchased the gelding from Nick Travaglia that was trained by Jim Bob Fritz. A couple of years earlier, Williams had given up softball to concentrate on roping. “I miss the hitting,” she said. “We had been looking at horses for two months,” Williams continued. “We tried him and I fell in love with him.” She had the horse checked over by Charlie Buchanan, DVM of Signature Equine Hospital in Stephenville, Texas. “How bad do you want the horse?” Buchanan asked Williams. “He needs surgery.” Williams paused. “For my dad, that’s a big no-no,” she said. “You don’t buy a horse Hali Williams won $56,250 inside NRG Stadium during the 2023 edition of RodeoHouston. The young roper would have never dreamed that a run of 3.6 seconds would land her in the winner’s circle that came with a $50,000 payday but that is exactly what happened. Photos by Impulse Photography, Mallory Beinborn
12 WPRA NEWS APRIL 2023
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