OPSU’s Peterson Ropes Runner Up Finish at Nationals

Dave Beyer

ARLINGTON, Texas – Oklahoma Panhandle State University Rodeo standout Beau Peterson (Council Grove, Kan.) continued to impress the rodeo world, turning in a second place performance in Breakaway Roping at the inaugural Women’s Rodeo World Championship held in the Metroplex. In Sunday’s finale – held concurrently with the Professional Bull Riders event last weekend at AT&T Stadium – Peterson had a time of 2.14 seconds.

Peterson’s time was just 9/100ths of a second off of the winning effort of 2.05 by Madison Outhier. Sawyer Gilbert was third at 2.54 seconds, followed by Loni Lester in fourth (2.56). Kelsie Chace and Paisley Pierce rounded out the championship field in fifth and sixth, respectively.

Peterson and Outhier both posted their best times on their second runs of the finals.

Peterson reached Sunday’s finals at AT&T Stadium thanks to winning runs of 1.89 and 1.85 in the two rounds of the main event – as well as the top aggregate of 3.74 – and with a 1.84 in the progressive qualifying round at Fort Worth’s Will Rogers Memorial Center earlier in the week.

“It been a pleasure to have Beau on our team,” OPSU Women’s Rodeo Coach Shelbie Rose said. “It has been so much fun to watch her grow and succeed in the arena, as well as out of it. She’s becoming one of the best women in rodeo and I can’t wait to see where her career continues to take her.”

As a freshman in 2019, Peterson won a national championship for OPSU at the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) in Goat Tying. In her sophomore season during the spring of 2020, the CNFR was canceled due to COVID-19. However, Peterson was declared the 2020 Central Plains Region All-Around and Goat Tying champion, holding substantial point total leads in both categories when the season came to a halt.

Peterson is a biology major at Panhandle State.