Team ropers quick and funny on opening night

After he and partner Tyler Wade posted a time of 4.0 seconds to win the first go-round of the team roping competition Thursday at the National Finals Rodeo, Trey Yates offered a blunt assessment of the duo’s first night out at the Thomas & Mack Center.

“It didn’t take long,” deadpanned the Pueblo, Colorado, cowboy.

After Yates and Wade roped their steer in hasty fashion to win first go-round money of $26,996 each, they adjourned to the media center, where they laughed and joked while trying to get a balky microphone to work properly.

“Twenty-seven thousand a night will get you pretty excited,” Wade said as the pair yukked it up on the victory podium.

Turning serious for a moment, Yates (header) said he and Wade (heeler), who both inched up to fifth in season earnings, have a lot of faith in their horses and each other, and it made for a winning combination.

“We’re just gonna rope the steers we draw, and we had a good steer tonight,” Yates said. “Through the week, we might not have some of the better steers. But we’ll try to catch ’em and let them pay us what they will.”

Other go-round winners:

■ Jess Pope, Waverly, Kansas, in bareback riding (90.5);

■ Dick Tavenner, Rigby, Idaho, and Riley Duvall, Checotah, Oklahoma, in steer wrestling (3.7 tie);

■ Zeke Thurston, Big Valley, Alberta, Canada, and Chase Brooks, Deer Lodge, Montana, in saddle bronc riding (88.5, tie);

■ Shane Hanchey, Sulpher, Louisiana, in tie-down roping (7.4);

■ Cheyenne Wimberley, Stephenville, Texas, and Amanda Welsh, Gillette, Wyoming, in barrel racing (13.77 tie);

■ JB Mauney, Cotulla, Texas, and Ky Hamilton, Mackay, Australia, in bull riding (81.5, tie).