3/23/08 POCATELLO, Idaho — Shelley Murphy turned tragedy into triumph.
A day after her father Scott Perrigo died in a car accident, Murphy paid tribute to him the best way she knew how.
Murphy went out and won the barrel racing title at the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo Saturday night.
The annual event features the year-end and Finals champions from 12 PRCA circuits around the United States.
The Helena cowgirl advanced to Saturday’s semifinal round by placing third overall in the average. Earlier in the week, she had won the first round.
Times and scores are erased for the semifinals and final rounds. The top eight out of the average qualify for the semifinals, with the top four advancing to the finals.
Murphy won the semifinal round with a time of 15.07 seconds.
She returned later to win the final round with a DNCFR-record time of 14.84 seconds. That was enough to slip past Arlee’s Rachael Myllymaki, who was competing for the California Circuit. Myllymaki now lives in Simi Valley, Calif.
Myllymaki had posted a time of 14.97 seconds in the final round.
“I know my dad was here watching over me,’’ said Murphy, the Montana Circuit champion. “Rachael had a 14.97 run just ahead of me, so all I could do was pray and try to go as fast as I could.’’
Murphy and Myllymaki finished 1-2 in the DNCFR barrel racing competition.
Murphy, who dominated Montana barrel racing in 2007, earned $13,797 at Holt Arena, located on the campus of Idaho State University.
Last year, Murphy easily won both the barrel racing titles for the Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit and the Northern Rodeo Association. At the Montana Circuit Finals Rodeo this past January in Great Falls, she swept both the year-end and Finals titles.
This was her second straight appearance at the DNCFR.
Murphy won her championship aboard her 13-year-old horse Flick, which she purchased during Memorial Day weekend in 2005.
Along with the money won, Murphy earns a wild card berth into the Ariat Playoffs later this summer and a lease on a new Dodge pickup truck.
Murphy becomes the second Montana cowgirl to win the DNCFR barrel racing title in recent years. Shelly Anzick of Livingston dominated the competition in 2005.
The money won at the DNCFR does not count in the WPRA world standings.
Myllymaki won $12,811 in Pocatello. Prior to Murphy’s record-breaking run in the finals, Myllymaki had set the DNCFR record with a time of 14.91 in the second round. Myllymaki set the early DNCFR record on Wink, an offspring of Page, which carried her to the 1990 DNCFR championship.
This was Myllymaki’s ninth DNCFR qualification.
Bridger’s Tyler Johnston also advanced the finals.
After being bucked off in the first round, he placed second in the second round with an 89-point ride Friday night. He returned Saturday to go 83 points in the semifinals, again good enough for second place. However, all four finalists were thrown before the buzzer.
Johnston placed fourth overall and earned $5,862.
Team ropers Cody Tew and Kory Mytty also picked up a check at the DNCFR . Shawn Downing of Silver Star reached the semifinals in steer wrestling, but had a no time. Jake Griffin, a saddle bronc rider from Powell, Wyo., was fifth overall with $2,888.
Other DNCFR champions were: Kyle Whitaker, all-around, Great Lakes Circuit; Chris Harris, bareback, Texas Circuit; Chad Ferley, saddle bronc, Badlands Circuit; K.C. Jones, steer wrestling, Texas Circuit; Matt Shiozawa, tie-down roping, Wilderness Circuit; Justin Spence, Evan Arnold, team roping, California Circuit; Poncho Limas, bull riding, Prairie Circuit.