TORRINGTON, Wyo. - After five trips to the National Circuit Finals Steer Roping, Chris Glover of the Mountain States Circuit grabbed his first title with a 9.7-second run in the four-man final round April 30.

Glover, 56, kicked things off strong by tying for third place with Travis Mills in Round 1 with an 11.9. Although the second round was a 14.0-second run for Glover, he remained in the average standings, ranking third with 25.9 on two head.

"I had a tougher time in the second round," the Colorado cowboy said. "The third round was all fresh steers and mine ducked down to the left fence and I missed him. I was a little disappointed, but I kept roping and trying - it goes back to what my dad always told me, 'you can only rope and tie as fast he lets you.'"

Once the Top 8 cowboys are determined from the first six rounds, they've all got equal footing for a chance at the title. At the end of the first six rounds, Glover was tied for seventh place with Chance Kelton - both cowboys had a time of 63.7 seconds on five head.

The semi-finals featured some of the big names - Rocky Patterson, Reo Lohse, Howdy McGinn, Chet Herren, Mark Milner, Jason Evans, Kelton and Glover.

I sat there and was counting the guys who made it and thought if they stubbed their toe and if I kept roping, I'd get to that round - and when it came, I drew a good steer," Glover said. "He was really good and, heck, I did the same thing with him that I did with the rest of them.

When the dust settled on the eight-man round, only four cowboys were left standing - Lohse with 9.9, Herren with 10.2, Glover with 10.6 and Kelton with 11.4.

"For the final one, I had a big peace come over me and I knew I couldn't change my plan," Glover said. "I would rope as fast as the steer would let me, and that's what I did - I just felt I got off a step earlier."

Glover shaved nearly a full second off his time in the final round, clocking in with a blazing 9.7-second time.

As if winning the NCFSR wasn't enough, Glover's horse, Cooper, was voted the top horse at the NCFSR.

"That young horse did good - I'm really proud of him," Glover said.


Additional Notes: 
Jess Tierney set an arena record in Round 5 of the National Circuit Finals Steer Roping with an 8.6-second run - a half-second faster than the previous record, a 9.1 that was set by Bryce Davis in 2011.

Courtesy of PRCA

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