'Go north': Boisjoli-Meged enters first Montana Pro Rodeo Finals in Great Falls
Haven Meged had some advice for his new bride.
“Go north,” the Miles City native said to his wife.
Shelby Boisjoli-Meged heeded her husband’s words and entered the Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit for the 2023 season.
“He told me I better enter there,” said Boisjoli-Meged of the Montana circuit. The pair married in May of last year.
A native Canadian now living in Texas, Boisjoli-Meged returns north for her first Montana Pro Rodeo Finals.
Only a month removed from winning the WPRA world breakaway roping title in Las Vegas, Boisjoli-Meged looks to claim another crown.
The MPRF is Jan. 11-13 at Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls. The rodeo will have 7 p.m. performances Thursday, Friday and Saturday night and determine the year-end champions for 2023.
The Montana Circuit’s premier event features the top 12 in each discipline. The Finals and average champions will qualify for the high-paying NFR Open this July in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Boisjoli-Meged comes to Great Falls with $17,745 won. She has a lead of $8,372 on Anna Callaway of Billings.
Three-time National Finals Breakaway Roping qualifier Joey Williams of Volborg is third with $7,892. Wiliams won at Cheyenne Frontier Days and the Pendleton Round-Up during the regular season. Also in the field is 2022 NFBR average champion Cadee Williams, of Weatherford, Texas.
Other standings leaders are: Jaret Whitman, all-around, steer wrestling; Richmond Champion, bareback; Tanner Butner, saddle bronc; Payton Fitzpatrick, bull riding; Brady Tryan, team roping headers; Ike Folsom, team roping heelers; Tayla Moeykens, barrel racing.
“Montana reminds a lot of home … the wide-open spaces, the mountains and the people,” said Boisjoli-Meged, who is originally from Langdon, Alberta, a small community outside Calgary.
While competing at 101 rodeos across the United States and Canada in pursuit of the gold buckle, Boisjoli-Meged found time to catch calves in Montana.
She won the summer opener in Belt.
“Winning Belt set up the rest of the season in Montana,” said Boisjoli-Meged, who also won at Cascade.
The standings leader cashed 10 checks in her new circuit with second place finishes at Helena and Big Fork, third at Missoula and Browning, along with fourth place finishes at Bozeman, Lewistown and Belle Fourche, South Dakota, the latter a co-approved rodeo.
“Montana has all good rodeos,” she said.
She and her husband are looking to return home to Stephenville, Texas with matching championship saddles. Haven Meged, the 2019 world champion, leads the tie-down roping standings.
The pair almost pulled off the feat in Las Vegas with Meged finishing second in the tie-down roping world standings. He set an arena record with a time of 6.4 seconds in the seventh round and set the NFR average record with a total time of 77.4 for 10 runs. The previous record was 80.1 by Shane Hanchey in 2013.
Meged was riding Shelby’s horse Lil Pump during his record-setting seventh round run.
“I better check that mount fee,” she said.
“I married her for the horse,” countered her husband, who won the Canadian Finals Rodeo title in November.
Boisjoli-Meged will most likely be riding Onna, her eight-year-old sorrel mare. Onna was the 2023 WPRA breakaway roping horse of the year and in 2021.
“Onna doesn’t leave until I say, runs strong and gets out really quick,” said the owner.
Boisjoli-Meged earned a record $197,706 in 2023. She won or shared first place at 14 different rodeos, including the Governor’s Cup in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on the final weekend of the regular season to take over the standings lead.
“I want to ride this out as long as I can,” she said of swinging a sizzling rope. “(Montana) will be a little bit different experience. You still have to back in the box and rope.”
This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Great Falls Montana Pro Rodeo Finals starts Jan. 11
