JUNE 22, 2009

By Kendra Santos • Special To Ropers Sports News

Just two weeks into their partnership, Texans Caleb Mitchell and Ryan Motes came tight on the title every team roper dreams of. Mitchell and Motes won it all at the 32nd edition of the Bob Feist Invitational Team Roping Classic, hauling home the $149,410 lion’s share of the richest one-day open roping in the world’s $700,000-plus in cash and prizes. The 32nd annual BFI was dedicated to the memory of Buzz MacKerracher who passed away the night before the roping took place. Buzz was instrumental in the production of the first events ever held, and later took over as the announcer of the BFI Cowboy Auction until he retired a few years ago.

“This is something I’ve wanted to do since I was young,” said Mitchell, a BFI freshman from Charlotte, Texas. “I grew up in a trailer park roping dummies. I didn’t get my first horse until I was a 16-year-old high school sophomore. This is the greatest day in my career. Hopefully, it’s just the beginning and not the end.”