CFD win changed Sawyer Gilbert's life
Jul. 22—CHEYENNE — Describing Sawyer Gilbert's breakaway roping championship at Cheyenne Frontier Days as life-changing isn't the least bit hyperbolic.
That victory catapulted her up the world standings, helping her earn a spot at the National Finals Breakaway Roping. She won the world championship at the December event, which led to her leaving college to pursue professional rodeo as a full-time career.
Life-changing.
Gilbert — who is from Buffalo, South Dakota — got a late start on her 2021 season because she was busy representing Weatherford (Texas) College in the goat-tying competition at the College National Finals Rodeo, which wrapped up in mid-June.
Gilbert made up for lost time by being one of the highest earners during the two-week stretch around Independence Day known as "Cowboy Christmas." That stretch of success moved her from 50th in the Women's Professional Rodeo Association standings into the top 25.
She really padded her bank account with a win at the "Daddy of 'em All."
Gilbert won the championship round of CFD's tournament with a time of 4.4 seconds. She earned $17,525 for her efforts in Cheyenne and jumped into the top 10. Winning CFD made Gilbert a virtual lock for a spot at the NFBR.
"When I won in Cheyenne, I felt like I had the finals made," Gilbert said. "I knew I couldn't fail at that point, so I was confident and kept going. I was able to kind of relax and just go rope."
Being able to rope free and easy kept Gilbert hot. She not only qualified for the NFBR, she was merely $1,000 out of first place when it started.
"She roped great, and she roped really aggressively once she got a taste of winning," said 2019 CFD breakaway champion Jordan Jo Hollabaugh, who traveled with Gilbert last year. "She really took off after winning Cheyenne, and did a great job the rest of the season."
Gilbert continued to scorch the competition at the NFBR. She was the only cowgirl to post qualifying catches on all 10 of her runs, and won the aggregate title at 46.3 seconds. She earned more than $20,500 in Las Vegas, and won the world championship.
CFD was the first of the rodeo world's biggest rodeos to add breakaway roping. It has since taken off, and there are enough rodeos with breakaway roping competitions that some cowgirls are starting to make a career out of roping.
Gilbert could see the way the rodeo world was trending and started pondering a career in the sport by the time she reached Weatherford for her freshman year in the fall of 2020.
Her heart is in the arena, and not the classroom, which is why Gilbert broached the subject of quitting school and rodeoing full time with her family even before she laid claim to the second breakaway roping championship CFD ever handed out.
She got a tepid response, especially from her mother, Patty Gilbert, who is a physician assistant.
"Education is very important to her, so she didn't want me to leave school," Sawyer said. "It was hard telling her that's what I wanted to do.
"We made a deal that if she gave me a year and let me prove to her that I could make a career out of roping, that I wouldn't have to go back to college. She's never brought up college since I won the world title, so I think it's settled."
Gilbert is currently No. 12 in the WPRA breakaway roping world standings with nearly $32,000 in earnings. A return trip to the NFBR is in the cards.
Repeating as CFD's breakaway champ is not. Gilbert didn't record a time during Tuesday afternoon's first qualifying round. She returned to Frontier Park Arena on Wednesday to try to earn one of 12 spots into CFD's tournament through the wild card round. Gilbert's time of 4.5 seconds was the 19th-fastest of the wild card round.
She will undoubtedly be back to compete in Cheyenne, but none of those trips will ever be as memorable as her first.
"My family is a family of steer wrestlers, so I grew up hearing about how cool Cheyenne is and how coveted that buckle is," Gilbert said. "They'd all competed there, and everyone talks about how cool it is.
"There's a prestige that comes with winning Cheyenne. It's one of those rodeos you win and have a bunch of people you don't know texting you congratulations."
Gilbert advanced to the tournament during the first qualifying round, but her horse, Hollywood, suffered a broken leg in the process. That injury eventually required surgery and sidelined Hollywood until November.
Gilbert returned to Buffalo after CFD's qualifying round and tried her hand on her brother, Grey Gilbert's, tie-down roping horse. She had been on the horse countless times over the years, and they were an instant fit when it came to breakaway roping.
"That horse is an outstanding athlete, and I was lucky to be able to ride it over the summer while mine healed up form having surgery," Gilbert said. "He was the perfect horse for Cheyenne. He floated across the line, is so fast and stops real hard. I was really lucky to have another good horse to get on."
Gilbert got her "Hollywood ending," though, as her primary horse was healthy enough to ride for eight of her 10 runs at the NFBR.
Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on Twitter at @jjohnke.
