Team ropers snare national title

By LORI COPE | East Texas Edition

National Champion team ropers Justin Lovell (left) and Shane Powell (right) were presented commemorative saddles following their win. Also pictured is Chad Henry (center), rodeo coach for Northeast Texas Community College. -- Courtesy photo Roger Dudley Hanagriff - Courtessy photo

June 26, 2003 -- Again, the roping team of Shane Powell and Justin Lovell have claimed the title that proves them best in their sport.

On June 14, the duo, who have been roping together for about four years, claimed the National Championship in team roping at the 2003 College National Finals Rodeo. After heading and heeling four times in the nine-day competition held in Casper, Wyo., Powell of Sulphur Springs and Lovell of Grapeland beat out the other teams by an accumulated 11 seconds to claim the overall win.

Similarly, as 17-year-olds in August 2000, team ropers Powell and Lovell won the National High School Rodeo Association's finals.

Now, as 20-year-olds, the ropers agree the collegiate-level win "felt good." Lovell added, "We'd worked all year and finally got it."

With their wins, each brought home a champion saddle and belt buckle, and a hat, plus $1,500 in scholarship funds that go to their respective colleges (Powell, Northeast Texas Community College; Lovell, Stephen F. Austin University).

"They rope well together," said Chad Henry, Northeast Texas Community College's rodeo coach. "They did an excellent job (at the College National Finals) and they roped smart."

Powell said the event's "fresh cows" deterred some really fast times, but his and Lovell's was the accumulated fastest - 41.1 seconds on four.

"I knew we had a good steer," Powell said. The ropers watch the cattle and remember each's distinctive moves as they come out of the chute - they may go a few steps and turn their head to the right, or come out fast and then slow down.

"By knowing the steer, I'd know whether to ride higher or hang back ....," Powell added.

The last competitive night of the finals, Powell said he was just thinking he needed "to throw fast and go for the throat. And hope everything works out."

In a sport where there's often more lassos in the dirt rather than on the steer, Powell admitted it's not easy to be a winner. "The hard part is staying on top of your game. I'd say we've had a (perfect) smooth run just once in the last year." In that specific fraction of time, Powell said it "felt like about nine seconds, but it was actually 5.6 seconds."

At the recent college finals, Powell, the heeler, was riding a 6-year-old Quarter Horse gelding that he had been training for about two years. "This was his (horse's) second big rodeo ... all within the last month."

(Powell shared that the horse wasn't feeling 100 percent at the finals event in Wyoming. "He had a little cold" after leaving Texas' 90-degree heat and getting into Wyoming where a Canadian cold front dropped temperatures to 38 degrees.)

Just a week before the college finals' competition, Powell, a roper since the age of 7, rode the horse and again earned the top team roping win in Hobbs, N.M. He credits his dad, also a roper, for teaching him the basics of the sport.

Lovell, the header, was riding an 11-year-old Quarter Horse gelding that he bought from a friend about three years ago. From a family of rodeo competitors (mom is a barrel racer; dad a team roper), Lovell said he had been riding "since I could walk."

With the latest big win under their belts, Powell and Lovell simply plan to just keep roping.

Lovell said he will return to Stephen F. Austin University in fall and continue working on his agriculture business degree.

Powell finished up at the two-year community college this spring, but plans to continue his education at another college in the state. Because of the recognition that comes with the win, colleges with rodeo teams will be offering their scholarship funds to the business major.

When asked what's the best thing about a top national win in the sport of where it all depends on "good ropes and fast horses," Powell answered that second is the reputation that's gained, but first is "just doing it."