New Mexico’s TiAda Gray reigned supreme at the 2024 Windy Ryon Memorial Breakaway Roping on May 24, winning the average with a time of 9.63 seconds on three head.
Gray was 3.59, 2.73 and 3.31 seconds to outpace No. 2 by more than three-tenths-of-a-second in the average.
“My second run was my favorite—it felt like the smoothest,” Gray said. “I made sure my calf went in front of me before I went. I think I hit the barrier pretty well on all three. There were a mixture of calves here today, and I felt like I drew three good ones—they were all red.”
For the effort, Gray won $8,722.
“The money is going to help kick off the summer run,” Gray said. “We’re going to Prineville, Reno and start the run from there.”
Currently, Gray sits No. 12 in the WPRA Breakaway Standings with $27,482 won.
Gray rode cutting-bred gelding “Coon,” to the win. She’s had him for about 18 months, and although he can be a handful in the practice pen, his talents are paying dividends at events like the Windy Ryon.
“My practices this week were definitely rough,” Gray said. “But I was able to finish on a good note and thought, ‘I’ll leave that there and hope it carries over to [the Windy Ryon].”
As a roper, Gray described her style as a mid-2-second roper who can go faster if needed, but prefers to focus on making the best run she can instead of blasting off with 1-point-something second runs.
Her goals include making the NFBR—something she works on in between running her structural pipe business that supplies materials to fencing and construction projects.
