Tanner Takes the Title in San Angelo

By Jolee Jordan

San Angelo, Texas — Squeezing in a little barrel racing in between running a successful business and chasing a two-year old might be a bit daunting for some cowgirls. But for Stephenville, Texas’ Jill Tanner, it’s all in a day’s work. And after claiming the championship at the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo, she’ll need to carve out a little more time to for chasing cans in the coming weeks.

The San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo is a marathon for the ladies of the WPRA that began more than three weeks ago with the long round during slack. Held in the 1st Community Credit Union Spur Arena, more than 200 ladies competed for a spot into one of the 12 rodeo performances held inside the nearby San Angelo Coliseum. Tanner and her gelding Saturday—registered Credit Ta Fame—picked up second in the first round, widely recognized as one of the toughest rounds in WPRA barrel racing during the season.

Tanner and one-hundred and nineteen other ladies advanced to round two, held next door in the Coliseum as the performances of the 87th annual event kicked off February 1.

By the final night of the second go round—February 14, Mississippi cowgirl Nicole Love had maintained a stranglehold on the average lead through five performances on the strength of her smoking fast 14.08 second run in round two.

Competing in the second-to-last perf of the second round on February 13, Lacinda Rose topped the perf with her run of 14.45; both she and Brittney Barnett’s two-run average times put them into the finals with just the final perf on Valentine’s Day left to compete.

Tanner was among the final 12 before the short round was set and she was solid with a run of 14.58 seconds. Jimmie Smith topped the perf with a run of 14.24 seconds, good enough for third in the second go round.

Smith moved to second in the average, just .14 second behind Love while Tanner slotted into fourth place. Sidney Forrest, who had placed third in round one, also moved on thanks to her run of 14.59 seconds.

With the largest field of barrel racers at any major winter rodeo finally whittled down to the top twelve, the short round was held on Friday night, February 15.

By luck of the draw, Smith drew first on the ground with Tanner second. The two cowgirls quickly established a blistering pace that no one was able to best.

Smith and her great palomino lefty, the mare she calls Lena, scampered through the pattern in 14.20 seconds, shaving a smidge off their second round run from the night before to set the bar high in the average at 44.54 seconds.

The lead was short lived, however, as Tanner simply wowed the field as the next gunner down the alley. Saturday was tight and fast around three corners and blasted out of the Coliseum with the best time run here in several years, 13.81 seconds.

With a three-run total of 44.36 seconds, Tanner’s lead was just more than two tenths ahead of Smith.

The challenges came quickly. Forrest and Sterling were 14.50 followed by Lacinda Rose. Riding a hot streak, Rose was smooth and fast at 14.26 seconds for third in the round. Entering the finals ranked tenth, she was able to jump five spots with the quick run.

After Ryann Pedone took a barrel penalty, the championship race came down to Love and her mare Josie. With .35 seconds on Tanner entering the final night, Love needed to nearly duplicate her second round time to claim the title. She was fast—14.30 seconds—but fell short by fourteen one hundredths.

Alex Lang and her mare Angel were solid at 14.34 seconds and Cheyenne Wimberley stopped the clock at 14.45 seconds.

Former Columbia River Circuit champ Teri Bangart and Peak ran 14.37 as the times continued to stack in tightly just as they had in the two previous rounds.

The final three to give Tanner a run for the championship were Carolyn Uhler, Stevi Hillman and Barnett. Uhler and Tobi posted a 14.71 while Hillman’s Layla continued to impress with her 14.35. Barnett turned in a crowd pleasing run, rubbing two cans and steadying one with a hand to leave ‘em clean at 14.49 seconds.

Tanner’s four tenth final round victory would be impressive in any WPRA-approved barrel race but was downright astounding given the notoriously tough nature of the competition in San Angelo every year.

Tanner and Smith were the only two cowgirls to place in every payoff in West Texas during the run of the stock show. Tanner’s bank account swelled with $13,304 in total earnings. She increased her 2019 earnings about seven-fold in just her second 2019 rodeo.

With more than $15,000 now won, Tanner will likely move inside the top 10 of the WPRA World standings.

Just as importantly, Georgia’s mom and the owner of Southern Honey Boutique, a clothing company with two storefronts and an on-line store will now have to find time to run south and compete at RodeoHouston. One of the perks of winning in San Angelo, apart from a big share of the more than $70,000 total purse, is an automatic bye into the huge payout, tournament style rodeo which is limited to just 40 cowgirls.

Love finished second here and picked up more than $10,000 as did Smith for her third place run. Already ranked fifth in the WPRA World standings, Smith’s lucky number seems to be three . . . she finished third at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo a week ago where she also walked away with five digits in earnings.

For more information on the San Angelo Stock Show & Rodeo, visit them on-line at www.sanangelorodeo.com.

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Final Results

1st Go

1. Wenda Johnson, Dreams First Flash, 15.91, $4,295
2. Jill Tanner, Credit ta Fame, 15.97, $3,681
3. Sidney Forrest, Promises To French, 15.99, $3,068
4. Ryann Pedone, Dash ta Jones, 16.00, $2,659
5. Jackie Jatzlau, Good To Be The King, 16.04, $2,045
6. Angela Ganter, SmokN Lane, 16.05, $1,636
7. Kelly Bruner, French Zone, 16.07, $1,227
8. Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi, Yeah Hes Firen, 16.08, $818
9. Hailey Kinsel, DM Sissy Hayday, 16.09, $614
10. Nisa Berry, VF Look Im Back, 16.10, $82
11. Sara Withers, Shoeless Joe Biankus, 16.10, $82
12. Brittney Barnett, Frenchmans Pick, 16.10, $82
13. Kenna Squires, NB Ladybird, 16.10, $82
14. Jimmie Smith, Lena on the Rocks, 16.10, $82

2nd Go

1. Nicole Love, JL Josie Bar, 14.08, $4,295
2. Alex Lang, Angels on the Moon, 14.19, $3,681
3. Jimmie Smith, Lena on the Rocks, 14.24, $3,068
4. Teri Bangart, RCA Three Bugs Honor, 14.29, $2,352
5. Sherry Cervi, MP Del Rey, 14.29, $2,352
6. Stevi Hillman, Luv My Fame, 14.32, $1,636
7. Halyn Lide, Jettin ta Heaven, 14.34, $1,023
8. Kappy Allen, Fameolicious, 14.34, $1,023
9. Mindy Goemmer, Cuchara Fancy N Fast, 14.35, $614
10. Dona Kay Rule, High Valor, 14.38, $409

Average on Two Runs

1. Love, 30.20
2. Smith, 30.34
3. Lang, 30.47
4. Tanner, 30.55
5. Bangart, 30.59
6. Forrest, 30.59
7. Carolyn Uhler, Lil Pep of Gold, 30.61
8. Hillman, 30.62
9. Cheyenne Wimberley, Streakin Images, 30.62
10. Lacinda Rose, RR Meradas Real Deal, 30.62
11. Ryann Pedone, Dash ta Jones (1st Go) & Slick by Design (2nd Go), 30.64
12. Brittney Barnett, 30.67

Finals

1. Tanner, 13.81, $3,181
2. Smith, 14.20, $2,386
3. Rose, 14.26, $1,591
4. Love, 14.30, $795

Average on Three Runs

1. Tanner, 44.36, $6,442
2. Love, 44.50, $5,522
3. Smith, 44.54, $4,601
4. Lang, 44.81, $3,988
5. Rose, 44.88, $3,068
6. Bangart, 44.96, $2,454
7. Hillman, 44.97, $1,841
8. Wimberley, 45.07, $1,227
9. Forrest, 45.08, $920
10. Barnett, 45.16, $614

Total Money Won

Jill Tanner, $13,304

Nicole Love, $10,612

Jimmie Smith, $10,137

Alex Lang, $7,669

Teri Bangart, $4,806

Lacinda Rose, $4,659

Wenda Johnson, $4,295

Sidney Forrest, $3,988

Stevi Hillman, $3,477

Ryann Pedone, $2,659

Sherry Cervi, $2,352

Jackie Jatzlau, $2,045

Angela Ganter, $1,636

Kelly Bruner, Cheyenne Wimberley, $1,227

Halyn Lide, Kappy Allen, $1,023

Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi, $818

Brittney Barnett, $696

Hailey Kinsel, Mindy Goemmer, $614

Dona Kay Rule, $409

Kenna Squires, Sara Withers, Nisa Berry, $82

Courtesy of WPRA