CASPER, Wyo. - Ryan Routier's nickname is "Diesel." He likes it, but he can't explain exactly why friends started calling him that about five years ago.
"I guess it means I'm a little rough and rowdy," Routier said with a sheepish grin.
That might be true outside the rodeo arena, but he's anything but inside it. There, he's a smooth operator.
That was evident Monday during the first slack performance of the College National Finals Rodeo, as Routier won the opening go-round of the tie down roping with a sizzling 9.6-second run.
"My big goal this year is to tie three (head) down smooth," said Routier, a Buffalo native who competes for Dawson Community College in Glendive, Mont. "It felt good to get this going right off the bat. It's a great confidence builder."
Routier, the top calf roper in the Big Sky Region this season, is back at the Events Center for his second crack at the CNFR. He had little to show last season for his first appearance, but the experience taught him a lot about the value of patience.
"I feel a whole lot different about (the CNFR) this year, and I think that's because of the experience," he said. "The key is to get to Saturday night, and to do that you've got to get three (head) down. You can't look past the next run."
Routier, who is a junior in terms of his eligibility, studied integrated ranch management at Dawson, and he will finish his bachelor's degree next year at Dickinson State. He has a year of college rodeo eligibility remaining.
That said, he's not looking at all past today's slack and the second go-round of the calf roping.
"I really felt like I had a lot of momentum coming in here, and that showed today," he said. "But I've learned that momentum can disappear in a hurry. You have to take care of business."
- Vale's Nikki Steffes comes into the 2008 College National Finals Rodeo on a roll.
The University of Wyoming junior is the Central Rocky Mountain Region top all-around cowgirl after winning titles in the barrel racing and goat tying. She has the confidence that comes with being the defending CNFR women's all-around champion, a performance that helped the Cowgirls win the national title a year ago.
That should add up to a ton of momentum, right?
Not necessarily, Steffes said.
"It helps my confidence to have had success here, but it's a whole new rodeo," Steffes said Monday morning as the first slack of the CNFR got under way at the Events Center. "There are 50 girls here capable of winning the national title. I have my work cut out for me all week."
Not that she needed it, but Steffes got a reminder during her morning barrel run that past CNFR success guarantees nothing this year. Out last in a group just before the arena was re-raked, she clocked a 14.95-second run that put her in a tie for 22nd with National American's Jena Lien.
"The ground was so deep, and my horse had a hard time with it," Steffes said. "He slipped a little on the first and second barrel. About all you can say is that it felt good to get that first run over with."
Steffes had a better outing in the goat tying. She finished third in the first go-round in 6.7 seconds. Dickinson's Kobi Olineck won in 6.4 seconds. Lien was second in 6.6 seconds.
- South Dakota State's Dillon and Ryan Kjerstad didn't win the opening go-round of the team roping, but they had little else to complain about. The brothers finished 10th with a 6.8-second run that, in their estimation, was just about perfect.
"We try to rope aggressively, but the key here is consistency," Ryan, a sophomore, said. "Our time today wasn't fast, but our goal is to get to Saturday night (and the championship short-go). To do that, you need to catch three head. We got a good start at that today."
The Kjerstads were a little more than a second behind the winning time of 5.7 seconds turned in by Lamar's Cole Dorenkamp and Josh Fillmore, but the brothers weren't fretting about it.
"Last year, 4.5 seconds on four head won this," Dillon, a junior, said. "When you break that down, we're doing OK. We just have to be consistent and catch our next two."
- Gillette College cowboys Brad Johnson and Chason Floyd got off to a solid start in the steer wrestling. Johnson, of Reva, split third and fourth with a 3.9-second run. Floyd, of Ludlow, finished in a four-way tie for 11th in 4.3 seconds. NAU's Nick Guy tied for 15th in 4.4 seconds. Bryce Stoltenberg, of Northeast Community College, won in 3.6 seconds. … NAU's Tyler Manke turned in a 68.5-point ride on Harry Vold's Royal Gorge to sit ninth in the second go-round of the saddle bronc competition that will be completed today. Manke has scored 136 points on two head to sit sixth overall in the event. … In the bareback riding, NAU's Weston Garrett scored 69 points on Byron Juma's Hot Coco, but teammate E.J. Karp failed to score because he double grabbed the rigging. That happened the other way around during the opening go-round on Sunday. … Neither Manke nor NAU teammate Dallas Cunningham completed their bull rides on Monday. Manke scored a 61 on his first ride on Sunday, but Cunningham has been bucked off twice. … South Dakota State senior Jacque Murray sits sixth in the average in the breakaway roping halfway through the second go-round. Murray clocked three seconds on Monday and sits at seven seconds in the average. McNeese State's Hope Thompson has the top time in the average so far (6.1 seconds). Murray's younger sister, Jordan, has yet to score in either go-round.
