Or so she says.
Her claim doesn't hold much water - or should we say dirt - when you consider she's participated in rodeos half her life and never suffered a significant injury. She says it's all because of good luck, but her goat tying expertise says something entirely different.
“But I've never had any injury when it comes to my horse. A lot of girls tear their knees apart. The horses are moving fast and you step off on just the wrong hole and it can happen. I'm almost halfway lucky with my get-off, or maybe it helps that I'm so picky with my style. A lot of the credit goes to my horse.”
Perhaps. Nordahl has been working with “Sara” since her freshman year of high school. But the senior daughter of Grizzly 11-year rodeo coach Kevin Nordahl also does her homework.
She lifts weights at least twice a week. She also pays attention to detail.
“I practice constantly,” the Frenchtown native said. “I'm always making my ties, working to make my hands faster. When you do the same tie so many times it becomes muscle memory.”
Goat tying is one of the most demanding events in women's college rodeo. The object is to race on horseback across the arena to where a goat is staked out on a rope. The competitor dismounts her horse while it is sliding to a stop or running, and then hustles to the goat, which must be flipped to its side in order to tie its legs.
Nordahl taught herself how to tie. Over the years she has tweaked her style, using priceless advice from her father and Central Wyoming assistant rodeo coach Lynn Smith.
“It's kind of been in her blood,” Kevin Nordahl said of his daughter's specialty. “She's practiced to the point where she has a tie-in that she's perfected.
“You have to work hard to try to learn how to get little advantages to beat everybody else that practices the same way you do. In the long run that's what benefits you.”
A fraction of a second can mean the difference between winning and losing as a college goat tier. Nordahl took top honors in the Big Sky region in May, edging Montana State-Northern's Kristy Robinson by just four-tenths of a second in two go-rounds. The key was a crisp 8.6 on the final day.
“To be able to get to nationals, it's kind of like completing the circle after going in high school,” said Brittney, who won two national titles in high school. “I'm definitely super-excited. My dad and uncles went. It was never really expected, but something I wanted to do for myself.”
Montana team roper Miles Suberg has been Nordahl's teammate for several years, and he's been downright impressed with her progress.
“She's getting pretty deadly,” he said. “She really has a smooth get-off and hustles down to her goat. It's cool to see what she's done because she works pretty darn hard at it.”
Brittney, a Frenchtown grad, turned down scholarship offers from the Montana State and Montana-Western rodeo teams so she could compete on her father's team. She'd love to give the former bull rider a special going-away prize in the form of a national title this week, but as one of 47 competitors, it's not going to be easy.
“Right now I just want to make it to the short round,” she said of the four-round competition. “It's the best of the best outside of pro rodeo, and you'll have times under seven seconds, so it's very competitive.
“To have three runs go your way is sometimes a rare thing. Our fastest has been 7.3 (seconds). I see where some of the others have been at 7.3, 7.2 and 7 flat. I think I can be near that if things go well.”
The good news for Nordahl and her fellow competitors is that Kayla Nelson, the two-time defending national goat tying champion from Wyoming, has used up her eligibility. Besides battling 46 other competitors in this year's event, Nordahl will be trying to put herself in the same success category as Blue Ogilvie, a former Montana goat tier who took fifth in both 2000 and 2001.
Rodeo is a way for Nordahl and her peers to earn money for college. At stake this week is over $207,000 in scholarships from the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company.
When Nordahl is finished with nationals, she'll focus on making money this summer at National Rodeo Association events. She has roughly 1fi years of college left to complete.
Rodeo is not a varsity sport at Montana. Fundraisers help the team defray travel costs. The team pays its own entry fees and must place in each event to come out ahead.
The intangible payoff for rodeo lovers like Nordahl and Suberg is a chance to represent their university.
“This has been the best experience of my life, being a part of this college rodeo team,” Suberg said. “Everybody is there for each other and we get to fight for the Grizzlies. That's a cool thing.”
Sports writer Bill Speltz can be reached at 523-5255 or bill.speltz@lee.net.
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