The flag dropped on Hali Williams’ final run in 1.81 seconds, crowning her the San Diego Rodeo champion breakaway roper Jan. 16–18 at Petco Park in California, where she earned $25,500 for her work across all four rounds.

“I’m excited,” the Comanche, Texas, cowgirl said after the win.

Williams’ weekend in San Diego kicked off with a Round 1 win. Her 1.6-second run was good for $3,500 and set the pace for the rest of the weekend. After doing her research, she knew the setup and the start would be fast.

“It was nothing really crazy,” she said of the first round. “My calf ran a little bit more when we watched the run through Logan gave us. I knew it was going to be fast. Then I watched the tie-down start and I’m like, man, they’re not breaking the barrier. It’s so fast.”

Even with the round win, there were things the 22-year-old, three-time National Finals Breakaway Roping qualifier wanted to tune up before she ran another one in Petco Park.

“I didn’t necessarily execute that run,” she said. “I know I won the round, but I didn’t execute it as good as I did. I did a lot of bad fundamentals in that one. Me and my dad were talking about it after, and I was like, I can’t do that again.”

After getting on the dummy that night and ironing some things out, she came back to win another $2,000 for second in Round 2 with a 1.8-second run.

“I felt like the second night I came back and made a much better run,” she said. “It was a little longer, but it was more controlled and it felt more consistent.”

Moving into the eight-man round, she was No. 1 with $5,500 won. She stopped the clock in 1.94 seconds on her third calf and finished sixth in the round — no money, but enough to move her forward to the one-header that was the finals Sunday evening.

Then she answered the call.

“The one I had in the final four was the one I had on the second night,” she explained. “I had already run him and knew how sharp he was.”

She made a split decision coming across the line to go ahead and let it go — a decision that didn’t feel right as it happened but felt a little better with $20,000 attached to it.

“When the barrier rope pulled, I knew I had to throw it and I don’t really remember that part,” she admitted. “I just remember being like, ‘Oh no, I just let it go and it did not feel right.’ Then it went on, and I looked up and I’m winning it.”

Her 1.81-second run won the finals and the title, with Rylee George second in 1.86 seconds for $15,000 and Rickie Fanning third in 2.03 seconds for $10,000.

For Williams, the win had as much to do with her horsepower as it did anything else.

Blaze, registered as Ru More Has It, is the 8-year-old sorrel bald-faced gelding she has brought up alongside her good horse Red Light, Stylish Red Light. When the rig to California filled up at the last minute, she had to make a choice.

“I feel like I was a little nervous going out there with just Blaze,” she said. “I was actually planning on taking Red Light out there and having him as a backup. And then … I had to choose, and I think it probably was for the best that I had no other option because I probably would’ve gotten on the main.”

Williams has said for two years that when Blaze was ready, he would be “lights out” in the fast setups. San Diego gave her a stage to prove it — Blaze stepped up in a big way.

“He’s just taken leaps and bounds the last six months, in my opinion,” she said. “Then when I threw him to the wolves at the NFBR in the 10th round, he was like, ‘I’m fine, I’m ready for it.’”

The win in San Diego carries on the momentum Williams has built since December as she prepares for the winter building rodeos. After battling illness and learning how to balance the grind with rest when needed, the victory helped put things into perspective.

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