Eighteen-year-old Denton Parish of Perrin, Texas, and 14-year-old Colby Corkill of Stephenville, Texas, kicked off the Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale with a bang—winning the #15.5 Priefert WSTR Finale and $57,000 for their time of 27.29 seconds on four head.
Coming back high call, the duo made a businessman's run to secure the victory lap.
"I just figured if I got out of the barrier and turned him, I knew he was going to catch," Parish said. "We talked about roping here for the last three months, so all my confidence was in getting out of the barrier and letting him catch because I knew he would."
"These are the chances you want all the time," Corkill added. "You just have to stay excited and relaxed and do your job."
Their consistency paid off after making runs of 6.75, 5.91, 7.24, and 7.39 seconds.
"We didn't have to be super fast," Corkill said. "We just made the same kind of run all day, and it was fast enough."
After the final steer, Corkill celebrated with a hat toss he later laughed about:
"I was pretty excited," he joked. "It was terrible, but I wasn't worried about what it looked like—I just knew I needed to do it."
Their teamwork has been building since late summer, when they won second in the #14.5 at the Xtreme Finals and spent weeks roping together in preparation for Vegas.
Parish credited his 8-year-old bay mare SH Oklahoma Feature, "Leddy", for being rock solid these last few weeks.
"She scores good and finishes fast. I've been riding her a lot, especially last week in Arizona, so I was confident she'd do her job."
Corkill heeled on Ruf N Wound Up, "Gangster," an 8-year-old gelding from the Relentless Remuda that belongs to his world champion father Jade Corkill.
"I'm lucky he cares enough to let me ride him," Colby said. "You put up this much in fees—you better be on your best one."
The win capped off months of practice and planning—and proved that when confidence meets teamwork, good things happen.
