BACK-TO-BACK CHAMP Boisjoli Lands Atop Leaderboard in Salinas for Second Straight Year By Kristen M. White S helby Boisjoli loves the breakaway roping setup at Rodeo Salinas. She loves the walking fresh calves and the need to “really score and use your horse, rather than just sling it and gun it.”
So it maybe comes as no surprise that she won this year’s event, and that you can call her a repeat champion at Salinas, even though the circumstances of last year’s victory were a little different (the regular rodeo didn’t happen due to Covid, but Salinas was the site for the ProRodeo Tour Finale and Boisjoli was the winner). She’s thrilled to have the title to her name. “I was kind of in awe,” she said. “Before the short go I told (my fiancé) Haven (Meged), ‘Wouldn’t it be so cool if I could win Salinas twice?’ So I feel extremely blessed. “I just love the setups where you have to score and think through a run and use your horse a lot. I thrive on setups like that. And I love Salinas and the buckles there are the most gorgeous things I’ve seen!” Boisjoli started the rodeo with a time of 4.3 seconds in the first round, which put her into a five-way tie for seventh place. All the calves were walking fresh, and she said she just tried to run hers down and make a good catch. Reigning world champion Sawyer Gilbert had the rodeo’s fastest run that round, 3.1 seconds, to easily win the round. In second was Martha Angelone with 3.7 seconds. In the second round, a lot of the calves took off and started running, Boisjoli said, but hers was still acting more like walking fresh, so she called herself really fortunate for the draw. She clocked another 4.3-second run, tying her this time for fourth place. Erin Johnson won the round in 3.8 seconds. Boisjoli’s consistency made her high call into the short go, a place she said she was happy to be so she could know exactly what she needed to beat. “I thrive a little bit more under pressure,” she said. “I knew I had to be faster than 5.5 to win it and I drew a good calf. All of them kind of ran in the short go.” Prior to her run, Boisjoli said she stayed away, walking circles on her horse to help settle him. She didn’t want to see what was happening in the arena. “A lot of times, if everyone starts going really fast, that’s when you might break a barrier, trying to go too fast, so you just have to stay in your own lane,” Boisjoli said. “I don’t like watching. I want to just make the best run I can on the calf I have and don’t get caught up in what’s going on.” When her time came in the arena, she said she felt like her calf ran far, and she knew she needed to throw and take her first best shot, but also not do anything silly, while staying composed. She stopped the clock in 5.4 seconds and looked at the scoreboard.
“It took a second to sink in that I’d won,” she said. “I wouldn’t let myself get excited until I knew for sure!” It was for sure. Boisjoli’s total of 14.0 seconds on three runs put her into the winner’s spot, ahead of Alex Loiselle in 14.2 seconds. It was a huge boost of confidence she needed – “I’d been having heck this Shelby Boisjoli finished atop the leaderboard in Salinas, California for the second straight year. While last year’s event was the ProRodeo Tour Finale and this year was back to the historic California Rodeo Salinas, the result was still the same for Boisjoli in the big arena. Photo by Phil Doyle
24 WPRA NEWS SEPTEMBER 2022
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