Families are the fabric of rodeo

Families are the fabric of rodeo.

Participation can span generations.

The recently completed 49th Annual Northern Rodeo Association Finals presented by nuWest Builders was more than just a showcase for the top cowboys and cowgirls.

For one weekend in Kalispell, it was The Cousins Club.

Cousins Celie Salmond, Molly Salmond and Quinn McQueary each won year-end championships for the 2024 season.

The exhilarating NRA Finals were Oct. 24-26 at Majestic Valley Arena in Kalispell. Champions in 11 disciplines were crowned. A total of 66 competitors took home a piece of the Finals record $131,000 in prize money.

This year’s Finals offered a look into rodeo’s present and future.

Teenagers Ryder Gaasch, Wyatt Warneke (bareback) and Devyn Hundley (bull riding) all won titles while veterans Jason Colclough (saddle bronc) and Lisa Warfield (barrel racing), along with Dustin Bird and Ike Folsom (team roping) did the same.

Gaasch, of Dillon, was the all-around cowboy and steer wrestling champion.

But the weekend belonged to the cousins.

Celie Salmond won her fourth straight all-around cowgirl title, matching her mother Mary for consecutive all-around championships. The record is five by Lisa Scheffer (1982-86). Salmond was the only repeat champion of 2024.

Molly Salmond and Quinn McQueary are first-time champions.

“I think each of us are the other’s biggest fans,” said Celie Salmond. “Every one of us wanted the other to do the absolute best. We made a point to watch, video and help each other.”

Salmond earned a record $18,187 during the Mountain Health Co-op Tour, bettering her own mark of $17,846 set last year. She won money in three events – barrel racing, breakaway roping and team roping. The single-season earnings mark is a record for female and male competitors.

“A fourth all-around is amazing,” said Salmond. “Winning is never easy, especially with incredibly talented contestants and our great payout throughout the year and especially the Finals.”

The talented cowgirl earned more than $5,000 during the final five weeks of the regular season aboard a rotating group of horses.

“It was a great accomplishment this year more than others because it took different and younger horses stepping into roles that they previously didn’t have,” Salmond said. “I still used my old reliables but I was able to give other horses a chance and that to me is more special.

“For me, the coolest part is always seeing the horses we have trained become something you can win on and they did just that, allowing me a chance to win another title.”

She dominated the barrel racing, winning the final two rounds and the average by one-hundredth of a second over Warfield for more than $5,000. Salmond also pocketed money in breakaway roping. Only four-tenths of a second separated Salmond, Warfield and Milee Dailey of Pray in the barrel racing average.

Salmond finished third in the final standings for barrel racing and breakaway roping.

Molly Salmond earned $9,984 to win her first breakaway roping title. She placed in two rounds and was second in the average. She also placed sixth in the barrel racing standings.

It is the third straight year the Salmond sisters placed 1-2 in the all-around cowgirl standings. Molly Salmond finished with $15,394 for 2024, the second-most won by a competitor.

McQueary also set a single-season earnings record with $7,915. The former record-setting quarterback for Montana Tech won the first round and finished third in the average.

Bird and Folsom made the biggest jump in the standings during the three performances. The fast-roping duo placed first, second and fourth in the rounds and won the average. They rocketed from ninth to first on the final day of the 2024 season. It is their second team roping title in three years and third for Bird who also won in 2004.

Warfield also made it a family affair. She placed first, second and third in the rounds to finish second in the average. She earned $12,631 for the year, the most for an individual event. Her husband James was the NRA bull riding champion in 2008.

Warneke, of Great Falls, won the closest race, edging Ty Owens of Helena by a scant $68.35 for the bareback title.

The Cousin’s Club celebration was low key after the dust settled and the awards were presented. “We took a few pictures with the family,” said Celie Salmond.

Among the photos was one of the cousins with grandmother Susie Melaney, the family matriarch.

Family and rodeo. Memories forever.

NRA Finals BAREBACK

Average: Ty Owens, Helena, 246/3; Tucker Zingg, Crow Agency, 234; Jordan Larson, Charlo, 232.5.

Year-end: Wyatt Warneke, Great Falls; $7,320 Owens, $7,252; Leighton LaFromboise, Helena, $6,971.

SADDLE BRONC

Average: Caiden Gray, Miles City, 230/3; Jason Colclough, Libby, 214; Wyatt Hotz, Philipsburg, 208.

Year-end: Colclough, $10,640; Hunter Haskins, Superior, $7,618; Paul Allyn O’Hair, Livingston, $7,523.

BULL RIDING

Average: Kobe Whitford, Cut Bank, 159.5/2; Caleb Oshea, Helena, 152; Devyn Hundley, Darby, 84.5.

Year-end: Hundley, $9,476; Oshea, $8,862; Caden Fitzpatrick, Polson, $8,634.

STEER WRESTLING

Average: Mitch Detton, Great Falls, 18.5/3; Logan Beattie, Helena, 19.9; Ryder Gaasch, Dillon, 20.9.

Year-end: Gaasch, $8,533; Jaxsen Petersen, Helena, $5,773; Detton, $5,483.

TIE-DOWN ROPING

Average: Jade Gardner, Ballatine, 30.8/3; Mitch Detton, Great Falls, 31.5; Quinn McQueary, Belgrade, 33.9.

Year-end: McQueary, $7,915; Gardner, $7,436; Detton, $6,676.

TEAM ROPING

Average: Dustin Bird, Cut Bank and Ike Folsom, Jackson, 23.9/3; Ben Folsom, Jackson and Riley Bailey, St. Ignatius, 31.5; Ian Austiguy, Dillon-Sam Levine, Wolf Creek, 114.2.

Year-end headers: Dustin Bird, $7,174; Austiguy, $6,579; Ben Folsom, $5,991.

Year-end heelers: Ike Folsom, $7,174; Zach Schweigert, Livingston, $6,825; Levine, $6,579.

BARREL RACING

Average: Celie Salmond, Choteau, 44.96; Lisa Warfield, Helena, 44.97; Milee Dailey, Pray, 45.00.

Year-end: Warfield, $12,631; Dailey, $9,885; C. Salmond, $9,411.

BREAKAWAY ROPING

Average: Jessica Picchietti, Polson, 10.0/3; Molly Salmond, Choteau, 21.3; Haven Wolstein, Helena, 203.3.

Year-end: Molly Salmond, $9,984; Picchietti, $8,542; Celie Salmond, Choteau, $8,020.

ALL-AROUND

Year-end all-around cowboy: Ryder Gaasch, Dillon, $12,941; Mitch Detton, Great Falls, $12,159; Logan Beattie, Helena, $6,948.

Year-end all-around cowgirl: Celie Salmond, Choteau, $18,187; Molly Salmond, Choteau, $15,394; Brooklin Baukol, Clyde Park, $11,488.

JUNIORS

Year-end breakaway roping: Brooks Bolich, Belgrade.

Year-end barrel racing: Tye Brown, Helena.

Year-end all-around: Tye Brown, Helena.