Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord jumped within $5,000 of regaining the PRCA world standings lead in Round 4 when they tied three other teams with a 4.1-second run to win Round 4 of the 2024 NFR team roping and win $23,635.36 each for the split.

Clint Summers and Jake Long, Cody Snow and Hunter Koch and JC Yeahquo and Buddy Hawkins all also stopped the clock in 4.1 seconds, each getting $23,635.36 for their efforts—all making wildly different runs with the same final result.

“The roping part was where I screwed up,” Hawkins said. “And I pulled a coil or something out of my left hand, but coming through the turn, I’m exactly where I want to be and I’m going to wipe him out. And I called it 3.6, and I think we are 3.6 if I wipe him out. But I get extra slack, and so there’s an extra stride in there, and JC did a great job staying keeping the hips of the cow. I went ahead and put it on the saddle horn, kind of taking a chance that I could lose a leg to go ahead and try to get a step back and engage the Big Bite Dally Wrap for the finish.”

A few teams later, Summers got it on him fast, but he caught his rein with his right hand and bobbled his dally.

“Transmission just did his deal in the turn, and Jake heeled him fast,” It was honestly a blur after I threw because I was in such a panic and I was mad, and then he healed him, turned around. It was four one. I was like, well, it’s better. Nothing. I didn’t by no means think we was going to win the round, but I was dang or thankful for it. 

Egusquiza and Lord were next in the 4.1 club, and their run also wouldn’t have placed at a horse show. But they were happy to live to fight another day.

“If we were showing, our horses, that would have been zero points,” Lord joked. “Probably disqualified. They’d tell us we couldn’t ever come back. No, it wasn’t really our best run. I thought it was 4.6 or 4.7— just we’re not even in the average really—but I guess to just get a time and hopefully at the end of the week maybe sneak back into a little bit of average money. But when I looked up and it said 4.1, still there was six teams left. We didn’t think we really had a chance. We thought maybe we would place. I don’t think anybody thought they would win the round, but it was just one of those nights, and we’re lucky to split it four ways.”

For the final 4.1 of the night, Snow and Thorp made a very different run.

“We were showing our horses,” Snow, who, along with his partner Koch, was riding a 6-year-old futurity horse, laughed. “We were were showing, making sure we got a good rundown. These guys, they were using the rope. We took different routes to 4.1.”

Snow made his handle so pretty, in fact, that it made Koch’s shot easy to be really fast.

“We’re so far behind,” Koch said. “It’s kind of like, you just got to do it and see what happens. And now with the replay, it makes it a little easier to make the decision. If you think it’s close, they can watch the replay. So might as well take the shot.”

NFR 2024 Team Roping Round 4 Results