Adam Evans and Taylor Mitchell turned a Monday decision to make the trip to Guthrie into a 32.38-second time on four steers, the 2026 Riata Championship Rope Horse Rewards #11.5 Ariat World Series qualifier title and a $45,600 first-place payday.
The West Texas duo came into Guthrie already carrying momentum from a win at the Title Fights in Abilene less than a week earlier. They hadn’t necessarily planned on making another trip so soon, but by Monday the idea was on the table.
“We had a lot of good luck last weekend and all of a sudden decided to make a spur-of-the-moment trip up here,” Evans said. “So it’s pretty nice to ride the momentum and win again.”
Evans, of Stanton, Texas, and Mitchell, of Midland, Texas, made that decision count with four runs of 7.92, 7.55, 8.04 and 8.87 seconds in Guthrie.
It wasn’t necessarily four picture-perfect runs, either.
“The second one was bad,” Evans said. “Taylor manned up and heeled the second one. Otherwise, we’d probably be in Abilene by now.”
By the third run, there was more trouble to work through. Evans had slack trouble, and left Mitchell in a place where keeping it simple was the only option.
That option? Must catch cow.
“It goes back to must catch cow,” Mitchell said.
That approach mattered most when they went to the short round as the second-high team.
Evans admitted he was relieved they weren’t high call. Instead of worrying about what had gone wrong in similar situations before, he focused on the job immediately in front of them.
“There was a mental battle going on,” Evans said of their second high-call spot. “It was just like, ‘Hey, don’t think about the bad stuff, think about the good stuff. All you got to do is go catch one more. Go spend the best two you can right now. Must catch cow.’”
For Mitchell, the situation brought back a less pleasant memory. A few years earlier, he had been high team in the #12.5 at the Bob Feist Invitational and roped a leg when the pressure got to him. He told Evans on the way to Guthrie he had no intention of repeating it.
“I got so nervous and there was so much riding on the line,” Mitchell said of that previous experience. “I told Adam when we were riding up here, I said, ‘I’m not going to let that happen again today. All we got to go do is catch one more steer.’ We’ve done the hard part. We got to the short round, and so I said, ‘Let’s just go catch. Let’s just make it fun.’”
An 8.87 on their fourth steer finished the job, putting them at 32.38 on four for the win.
Evans made his four runs aboard 7-year-old Lonsum Cover Girl, by Dashin Dynamo and out of Jd Lonsum Dakota. Evans said the mare came into his program through Facebook for just $3,500. He had started searching for horses by Riata stallions when the program’s first stallion list came out, and Lonsum Cover Girl fit the bill.
The investment has more than paid off.
“She’s a gamer,” Evans said. “I don’t go to town very often on her and not win, so she’s pretty good. We’re glad to have her.”
Her style also fits a World Series setup.
“She runs hard, she leaves flat and she’s easy to catch on, and that’s what really works for me,” Evans said.
Lonsum Cover Girl’s eligibility added another $6,000 Riata incentive payday to Evans’ week.
Mitchell heeled aboard CW Cool Choice, by HB Instant Choice and out of CW Cool Gunpowder, the paint gelding he simply calls “Paint.” Or, technically, Sherwin—short for Sherwin-Williams—though Mitchell admitted the more obvious nickname is the one that stuck.
More important than his name is his consistency.
“He’s my old steady steed there this year,” Mitchell said of the horse that has carried him to wins at the World Series and at the USTRC Finals this year alone. “He’s been there when I needed him every time.”
After two wins in less than a week, Evans and Mitchell weren’t exactly ready to cool off, either.
“If anybody’s got an #11.5 roping going on in the next five days or so,” Evans joked, “just let us know.”