Kenzie Kelton and Whitney DeSalvo went 31.27 seconds on four steers on Wednesday, April 3, to notch the $23,000 Charlie 1 Horse All-Girl team roping win during Bob Feist Invitational Week at the Lazy E Arena in 2024.
Kelton and Desalvo are no strangers to the winner’s circle at the BFI. DeSalvo, 29, has won an impressive six All-Girl titles heeling at the event, and Kelton, 20, celebrated her second consecutive win on the racks for Desalvo in 2024.
“I didn’t realize until last year that you could enter twice on each end,” DeSalvo explained. “So this year I made my mind up. No matter how much fees were, I was going to max it out.”
Watch Whitney burn up both ends of the All-Girl on demand—any time, anywhere—at Roping.com!
DeSalvo capitalized on both her pick and drawing runs to bring a total of five runs back to the short round between her heading and heeling.
“I’m glad Kenzie’s here to keep track,” DeSalvo said. “I got off my horse for a minute before the short round and text my mom that I had three coming back in the top 10. I didn’t realize how many I caught, but Kenzie knew I had those other two runs coming back.”
Kelton coming in clutch
Kelton’s been busy pursuing a degree in cosmetology, and another member of her family has been keeping her iconic mare, “Peaches,” in shape over the last couple months. Little brother Ketch, 18, has been notching wins on the grade mare across the country, and even placed deep in The Feist just days before Kenzie stepped back on board in the shorter all-girl setup.
“I haven’t been able to ride Peaches much lately because Ketch has taken her,” Kenzie explained. “But she’s the same every time. She’s just a winner. Ketch has been going so fast on her over the past month, then we completely slowed down today. She knows exactly what to do.”
Introducing DeSalvo’s ‘Rango’
For DeSalvo, her heel horse weapon of choice was Rango, a 4-year-old she’s recently started seasoning.
“He’s not fancy, but you can win on him,” DeSalvo said. “I might not win another thing on him the rest of the time I ride him, but I’ve used him at two jackpots and three rodeos so far and I’ve won a check at every one of them.”
King W W Merada, aka Rango
We’re following DeSalvo as she prepares to compete at the 2024 Women’s Rodeo World Championship.
Click here to learn more about DeSalvo’s clean sweep of the rounds and aggregate at BFI All-Girl 2024, and how she’s using the WCRA to increase earnings on each run—heading and heeling—in 2024.
— TRJ —
