Willow Wilson: First Female Team Roper to Make Final Round at Cheyenne Frontier Days

Though she came up just short of a circuit finals qualification in 2022, Willow Wilson earned a place on the list of history makers.

Roping as Willow Raley, Wilson became the first female to qualify to the finals at the famed Cheyenne Frontier Days in the team roping in 2013. She placed high in the round, spinning for Pake Younger, and the duo gathered a nice average check as well. The Wyoming cowgirl finished just short of the Mountain States Circuit Finals that year, landing 14th.

In that same year, however, Wilson was the Wyoming Rodeo Association’s Champion Breakaway Roper, as well as the Colorado Pro Rodeo Association’s All-Around Cowgirl—a title she held for three years, starting in 2011. In 2012 and 2013, she was also the CPRA’s Mixed Team Roping Champion.

In 2021, Wilson was 23rd in the Mountain States Circuit and, this season, was 24th after picking up checks at Colorado rodeos in Elizabeth, Craig and Steamboat Springs with her husband, Todd.

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