Champ Aggie roper at it again
Four months ago Trevor Merrill returned from Casper, Wyo., with the Best Header in the Nation title from the College National Finals Rodeo.
Merrill, the now junior team roper, and then partner Garret Thurston had a successful season going into the finals but were still dark horses in the national title race. In the final round the Aggie ropers found themselves sitting seventh overall going into the short go. A run of 5.8 seconds placed them in first and the two waited out six other teams’ missed loops to claim the title.
“I honestly didn’t think we had a chance of winning the finals being so far back in the average,” Merrill said. “I just wanted to at least win the final round and walk away with something. It didn’t sink in until we got to take the victory lap around the arena as the new champions.”
After the miracle run at the CNFR, Merrill turned his focus toward the summer rodeo circuit and the next collegiate rodeo season. To keep his team roping skills sharp during off months, he traveled and participated in about 30 rodeos in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. Wear and tear of the pro-rodeo grind puts cowboys and cowgirls into situations they may not see in collegiate competition.
“At the professional level there are so many teams that are so good that you have to be really fast, or you don’t get paid,” Merrill said. “So at the pro rodeos you have to let it all hang out, all the time.”
Touring the PRCA provides opportunities to compete against the best in the Western region and puts youngsters against some of the most experienced cowboys in the nation. Merrill said he believes strongly in the motto “You are only as good as your competition.”
“You get to compete with the best of the best,” Merrill said. “The guys going to pro rodeos make it a living, so it’s fun to go compete against them and beat them. It also helps you step up your game.”
The Aggie roper performed well, winning a few amateur rodeos and placing at a few bigger pro rodeos, including the Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo.
Coming into the 2011-2012 regular collegiate rodeo season, Merrill faced the loss of his heeler, a roper’s teammate in the arena. Thurston, Merrill’s partner in the CNFR and rodeo season, graduated, leaving Merrill with an important void to fill.
“It’s tough to have to lose a great partner like Garrett, because you have practiced so much, and you both learn what it takes to win and how to work as a team,” Merrill said.
Merrill also comments on how new partner Rhett Anderson, of Utah Valley University, knows how to rope and win. With the season already under way, Merrill has a decent start with a sixth place finish at the Southern Utah University rodeo, but said he looks to improve.
“So far we’ve had a couple bad steers and placed at Cedar City, but I look forward to it getting better,” Merrill said.
To get better takes practice, patience and hard work. One standout quality Merrill possesses is his work ethic, inside and outside the arena. Winning Nationals — let alone reaching Nationals — requires nothing less.
“He has a good work ethic inside the arena and out — shows in how much he practices and everything,” Thurston said. “He takes a lot of pride in his roping.”
In practice Merrill and Thurston roped steers and helped out fellow teammates. Kate Clissold, current president of the Rodeo Club, said the ropers are selfless to stick around after practices to run chutes.
“(Merrill and Thurston are) always the first to help the team out,” Clissold said. “There are a lot of people who would think they were better than everyone else because they were winning region, but they stuck to the team.”
With a humble and thoughtful attitude, Merrill represents the rodeo club well. Club members see the pair’s success as showing what every cowboy and cowgirl should exude: sheer will and determination.
This is exemplified in the USU’s Rodeo Club because it is just that — members of clubs like this do not receive scholarships to compete for USU and many of the contestants work, are full-time students and rodeo. Merrill is no exception. Winning the national championship shows how much work Merrill and teammates put into rodeo and the skill level at USU.
“Says a lot about Utah State — about how hard we work.” Clissold said of Merrill’s success.
With three rodeos down and the season just underway, the CNFR team roping champion said he looks to keep rolling; and with a home town rodeo next, Merrill looks to capitalize on home town advantage, he added.
“Obviously the goal is to win,” Merrill said. “That’s what you compete for, and that’s the reason I do it.”
– mega.bodi@aggiemail.usu.edu