Maui ropers shine at Oskie Rice, two advance to ‘American Contender’ regionals in Vegas

With respective wins in breakaway and tie-down roping at the Kaonoulu Ranch Open on Friday, Kula’s Elizabeth and Daniel Miranda have punched their ticket to The American West Coast Contender Regionals in Las Vegas.

The American West Coast Contender Regionals in Las Vegas, NV will take place Jan. 9-11, 2025 at the South Point Hotel. The top five from each region will advance to compete in the “richest weekend in rodeo,” The American Contender Finals. To follow their progress, visit americanrodeo.com.

Both Daniel and Elizabeth will be riding the same horse — known as “Princess” when Daniel rides her and “Hersey” when Elizabeth rides her. She lives in California now that Daniel is at school at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

The winners of the Kaonoulu Open were as follows:

• Open Tie-Down Roping (American Contender Qualifier event): Daniel Miranda (Kula, HI)
• Open Breakaway Roping (American Contender Qualifier event): Elizabeth Miranda (Kula, HI)
• Open Team Roping: Rory Souza (Haʻikū, HI) and Dugan Kelly (Templeton, CA)
• Hawaiʻi’s Own Poʻo Wai U: Bronson Branco (Waimea, HI)

In the men’s open tie down, payouts went to Daniel Miranda, with a round one time of 13.5 seconds, Bronson Branco with a round two time of 12.29 and Daniel Miranda with a round three time of 11.27. The top aggregate were Daniel Miranda with 46.08 and Kahiau Onaka with 65.31. The pot totaled $640.

In the women’s open breakaway, Rachel Andrews of Kula marked a time of 3.41 seconds in round one, with Elizabeth Miranda roping at 2.07 to win round two in addition to the aggregate, 4.3. The open breakaway paid out a total $240.

With her win in the breakaway event on Friday, Miranda will also have a chance to compete in the “Rope for the Crown” in Las Vegas in December 2024 during The National Finals Rodeo, the premier championship rodeo of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

The Kaonoulu Ranch Timed Event Championship also took place on Friday, with RS Bucking Bulls owner Rory Souza taking home the Timed Event High Money All Around Championship saddle.

All of the event champions received beautiful Tres Rios championship spurs.

Seconds anyone? Kaonoulu Ranch advances eight youth to Hooey Junior Patriot

The following morning at Oskie Rice, the second event of a double-header qualifier saw eight young Maui rodeo athletes advance to The Hooey Junior Patriot, a competition that takes place at Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth, TX in March 2025.

The Hooey Junior Patriot offers multiple age divisions across all traditional youth rodeo events. Those events include barrel racing, steer wrestling, breakaway roping, tie-down roping, goat tying, team roping (Open and 10.5 incentives), and pole bending.

The Patriot features a $100,000 bonus round for contestants aged 19 and under in timed events, challenging them to beat the winning time from the finals. The top three contestants from each event advance to this bonus round, where they compete to post the fastest time and earn a share of the $100,000 prize. Similar to The American, if multiple event winners achieve this, the prize money is evenly split among them.

Those with top scores at the Maui event qualified for The Patriot in Fort Worth. They are as follows:

• 12 & Under breakaway: Racer Faye
• 15&U breakaway: Kapea Perez, *Kristina Duarte (2nd)
• 19&U breakaway: Chaya Gomes
• 15&U tie-down roping: Nixon Nuese
• Open team roping: Elizabeth Miranda and *Colten Kehano
• 10.5 team roping: Elizabeth Miranda and *Colten Kehano
• 19&U goat tying: Nana Bornacorsi
• 19&U barrel racing: Elizabeth Miranda

*These individuals also qualified for the The Patriot in Las Vegas, December 2024