Tie-Down Roping Royalty In Vegas

LAS VEGAS – Coleman Canton added another championship buckle to the family collection Monday.

The Navasota, Texas, cowboy capped an impressive morning by winning the 15-and-under tie-down title at the Junior World Finals with a 9.15-second run in the shootout round at the Wrangler Rodeo Arena.

Canton is the son of roping legend Ricky Canton, a member of the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame. Ricky was a 15-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier, a two-time tie-down winner at Cheyenne Frontier Days and the 2003 Calgary Stampede champion. But one thing he doesn’t have on his resume is a Junior World Finals championship. (The JWF began in 2016.)

It was the third Junior World Finals title for Coleman, who came into the day with a plan of attack and followed it to a tee.

“I just try to do my job and let everybody chase me,” he said.

That’s just what he did Monday. Coleman won the first go-round with a time of 8.71 seconds – the fastest time of the day – to guarantee himself a spot in the six-man shootout round.

“That was kind of the plan,” he admitted. “If you win the round you’re for sure in the shootout and that’s what I was going for.”

In the shootout round Coleman was the first one in the box and set the standard with his 9.15.

Second-round winner Cutter Pareo of Portales, New Mexico, went next and had a no-time when his calf kicked free. Myles Nixon of Nara Visa, New Mexico, followed with another no-time before Carson Gates of Reklaw, Texas, ended the run of bad luck with a 10.02; not fast enough to knock Coleman off the top spot.

Cole Burrer of Franklin, Texas, had a 13.05, leaving Zane Lattner of Livingston, Texas, as the last man standing between Cole and his third Junior World Finals title.

Lattner backed into the box, nodded his head and burst out into the arena. He swung his rope twice and let it fly … and missed.

Coleman accepted congratulations in the arena and later at the awards ceremony from his fellow calf ropers, many of whom he’s competed against for years.

“The ropers are getting better and better as everyone progresses and it seems like there’s a roping to go to every day if you want to,” Coleman said. “It’s pushed me more than I would like some times, but it works.”

He took time to pose for photos with his family before handing some gear to his dad as they got ready to head to another roping across town.

“It’s been great because my dad is always the one that points me in the right direction in everything I do,” Coleman said as he followed Ricky out to the parking lot.