Two friends who rope against each other several weekends each year traveled all the way to the Bayer Select World Championship Show for the chance to do the same thing again.

At the end of the heeling finals Friday, Zachary Wiges of Hamlin, Iowa, and Lon Lemon of Gretna, Nebraska, were tied with a 216.5, forcing a rope-off.

Riding Miss Ang Olena, Zach rode over to the side of the stands to snag a big kiss from his fiancée before he backed into the box.

“I thought I owed her a kiss, plus I needed one about then,” he said.

When the steer tripped after header Steve Orth caught him, Zach knew he would have a hard time regrouping. He didn’t catch, and his mare received a zero. His only chance of winning the world championship was for Lon to miss, and he couldn’t wish that for his friend.

“We rope together all the time,” Zach said. “Doc was instrumental in putting the Nebraska Rope Horse (Association) together, so that’s where we show against each other all the time, so every weekend, we’re going against each other in a friendly sort of way.

“I couldn’t sit back there and wish for him to miss,” Zach said. “I just wanted him to go catch and have a good run. I’m tickled for him and happy for me.”

 

Lon Lemon and Smart Smokin Token win the heeling in a ropeoff with Zachary Wiges and Miss Ang Olena.

As Lon, called “Doc” because he’s a small animal veterinarian, rode into the arena for his turn, he was feeling less pressure.

“I’ve been in a rope-off in 1983, which was my first world championship,” he said, adding he was thinking, how much fun it was going to be. “I knew I was going to be first or second.”

Doc also knew he was well-mounted. Smart Smokin Token, a 2000 gray gelding by Royally Smart and out of Freckles Floozie by Freckles Hustler, is a horse that Doc raised and trained. Freckles Floozie is the mare Doc won a world championship on in amateur heeling in 1997. “Token,” one of seven foals she has produced, qualified for the finals in working cow horse Friday before the roping finals began.

With Steve heading for Doc, too, Doc quickly got his loop on the steer’s legs and scored a 217.

“I was lucky as usual,” Doc said. “Anytime you win, you’re fortunate, and I’ve been fortunate that I’ve won it before, and I was really happy this year I was able to tie with one of my better friends and best friends, so it was a neat experience.

“This year’s pretty special to have first and second, to be right there together, to tie. We provide some pretty intense competition for each other. It’s nice having him there. I was excited just to be tied with him and with that friendship, I knew there was no way I could lose.”

Zach said he felt like a winner just getting the chance to be in the rope-off.

“I’ve watched Steve Orth and J.D. Yates in a rope-off, and you wonder what goes through their minds,” he said. “Well, Doc and I pretty much wished each other the best of luck. It’s the kind of thing you dream about, to be in the rope-off for a world title.

“That’s about as good as it gets. If you’re the loser, you’re the reserve champ, so it’s a kind of a no-lose situation. It’s fun when you really like the guy, and we’ll get a lot of mileage out of it over the years.”