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9th ANNUAL NBHA GREAT LAKES
NATIONALS PAYS OUT $66,810

By Kenneth Springer

Open 1D Winner, Kristi Armstrong

On July 2, 1998 the road crew of the National Barrel Horse Assn. rolled into the farming community of Gifford, Ill., and unloaded the personnel and equipment necessary to produce the first Great Lakes Regional Championships.  Nine years later, the tradition continues with the exception of earlier dates, May 26-28, and the name changed to the NBHA Great Lakes National Championships.  Payout for the 9^th annual gathering of NBHA barrel racers totaled $66,810, including $15,000 added by the host.

With $12,000 added, the Open race attracted 569 entries that each ran twice with 96 advancing to the Finals.  144 check earners took home a portion of the $65,770 paid out.  In the Youth, 195 entries, all 18-years-old and under, made one run for a shot at the 28 paychecks that disbursed the $6,778 total purse that included $2,000 in added money.  In the Senior class, reserved for competitors age 50 and over, $3,628 was paid out, including $1,000 in added money, with each of the 126 entries running one time with the hope of taking home one of the 20 paychecks.

Curt Hagey, Tremont, Ill., sat such a high standard in the first go round of the Open that none of the other 1,554 runs made during the course of the weekend were able to match it.  His hard running, close turning, bay mare, Sharps Red Pepper, toured the course in 13.813 for a $1,091 paycheck.  Ironically, Hagey's fast time further benefited his household with wife Polly taking first in the 3D with a 14.817 aboard One Sharp Lady.

Second go round honors in the Open went to Mesa Leavitt, Blue Grass, Iowa who exited the arena with her 13.988 showing on the timer scoreboard as well as on the leader board.  Leavitt, 10, rode her 16-year-old bay gelding San Jo to the win.

While the two go rounds determined who would advance to the Open Finals, it was in the Finals, where all previous times were discarded, that the 2006 Great Lakes National champions were named.

While Kristi Armstrong, Lynnville, Ind., ended up the Open champion with a 13.938, it was not without Chris Dodd, Marion, Ill. breathing down her neck with a 13.940.  Armstrong rode the sorrel mare, Tousha LeMay, to the title while Dodd was on top of his sorrel gelding Brannons Nonstop Jet.  Lining the times up against Armstrong's 13.938 put Patti Hall, Bismarck, Mo. on top in the 2D with her time of 14.478 riding Nonstop Bandit.  Chuck Reynolds, Decatur, Ill., found his 14.986 to be the ticket to the 3D Open championship earned aboard Special Frisky.  The combination of an 11-year-old rider, Megan Moore, riding a 28-year-old mare, Deckum Lilly Bug, was the key to the Open 4D title with a 15.954.

Youth 1D Winner, Mesa Leavitt

Mesa Leavitt remains the NBHA Great Lakes National Youth 1D champion by repeating her 2005 performance.  Instead of winning the championship on her last year's top finisher, San Jo, it was Juniors Genuine Doc that took her to the top this year.  Her winning time of 13.885 was aboard Doc while a 14.105 riding San Jo earned her reserve Youth 1D honors.

Kristen Yunker, Frankfort, Ill. earned the Youth 2D riding Haul It Jet, Jennessee Kauffman, Luebbering, Mo. , took the Youth 3D aboard TNT Guy and Ashley Ernsberger, Avilla, Ind., topped the Youth 4D on High Stake Story

To no one's surprise 5-time NBHA Senior 1D World champion Chuck Tolbert, who has put Olney, Ill., on the barrel racing map, rode away with the Senior 1D national championship aboard his bay mare What A Sharp Chick.  Tolbert's winning time of 14.165 put Richard Brown, Moweaqua, Ill., and Mr Tom Trucks in the Senior 2D top slot, Linda Hafner, Cincinnati, Ohio and Heza Son Of A Sis in the Senior 3D championship position and Glen Phillips, Brownsburg, Ind. aboard Apolo Ranger first in the Senior 4D.

The largest number of national titles, 5, went to the host state of Illinois while Indiana bagged 3, Missouri 2 and Iowa and Ohio each claiming one.  Of the 12 Tex Tan trophy saddles presented to the national champions, 8 went to competitors who had never before earned one.

OPEN CHAMPIONS

A new, fresh and beautiful champion in the Great Lakes winner's circle was Open 1D champion Kristi Armstrong.  Having never before won a major barrel racing event, it was Armstrong's first championship saddle and belt buckle.  She credits her mare Tousha LeMay aka Maybe and Nancy Hopkins, Brazil, Ind. for her recent rise to the top.

"Nancy gave me the opportunity to have part ownership in Maybe," said Armstrong.  "I had bought my first really top horse from Nancy.  His name is Classy Can Go and I placed in the Finals on him here last year.  It was only a few weeks ago that Nancy and I became partners on this mare.  It was an opportunity of a lifetime and I thank her for trusting me."

It appears that Hopkin's trust was well placed.  With each run at the Great Lakes Nationals, Armstrong and Maybe improved.  A 14.478 put them seven places out of the 2D money in the first go round of the Open.  A 14.527 earned them fourth in the 2D in the second go round as well as advanced them to the Open Finals where they shaved off nearly six-tenths of a second to win the top spot with a 13.885.

"The biggest thing I changed was how I got into the arena," explained Armstrong, who holds degrees in broadcasting, marketing and finance.  "Maybe can be a problem getting in the alley.  It was very difficult on my first two runs.  In the Finals, I decided to lead her into the alley and then get on her.  By getting off to a good start, it improved my entire run."

Although Armstrong has ridden most of her life, she has only been barrel racing for eight years.  She credits her boyfriend, Tim Oxby, for encouraging her to get further involved in barrel racing and teaching her basically everything she knows about the sport.

"It's funny, but my parents always told me that the barrel racing that I saw on television was just fiction because you didn't really take your horse anywhere.  When I found out otherwise, it was all over.  Horses and barrel racing have been my dream for a long time.  Now another of my dreams to be a champion has come true."

Armstrong has recently quit her regular job in order to stay home and ride horses.

"It's much harder working at home," said Armstrong with a grin.  "I may have to find another job in order to have a vacation."

Interestingly, the dam of Tousha LeMay, Fair LeMay, owned by Nancy Hopkins, took Talmadge Green to his first reserve championship at the Old Fort Days Futurity in Fort Smith, Ark., when she was four.  Their paycheck for the second place finish in 1987 was $21,286.  Nineteen years later her colt continues the winning tradition.

Open 2D Winner, Patti Hall

What better advertisement for All American Tack, the company Patti Hall co-owns with husband Dave, than to win the Open 2D Great Lakes national championship riding a horse outfitted with the very tack they sell.  While the Hall's rig is filled with Tex Tan saddles for sale, Patti had never won a championship saddle for herself until the Great Lakes Nationals.

Hall's ticket to the Great Lakes winner's circle was the small bay gelding Non Stop Bandit aka Bandit, a 15-year-old gelding she's owned for six years.

"We purchased Bandit for our son J.D. but he never really liked him because he's so small," explained Hall.  "J.D. calls him a little fat pony, so I started riding him and we got along together so I started running him.  I wish everyone had a horse they loved as much as I love Bandit.  He's so laid back, except when he's running barrels, that everyone is amazed.  When I'm warming him up he's more like a pleasure horse than a barrel horse.  But he's got a heart bigger than he is and when he runs through the gate he gives me everything he's got."

Hall's trip to the top on Bandit has required considerable patience.  Aware of feet problems when they purchased him from a family friend, it took a long while to grow out his feet and many shoeings.  Then last July 4^th the gelding was injured and only recently been returned to competition.

In addition to her husband and son, Hall credits Bob McKinney for helping her the most with her barrel racing. 

"Bob spent hours with me one hot summer several years ago helping me," said Hall.  "He's such a talented hand with a horse and a wonderful person.  He wouldn't quit helping me until I got it right."

Since she will be serving as one of the sponsors on her son's senior class trip to Hawaii, Hall says the money earned at the Great Lakes Nationals will come in handy as well as using it for future entry fees.

Open 3D Winner, Chuck Reynolds

Open 3D champion Chuck Reynolds has been attending Great Lake National events for the past five years but he had never won a championship until 2006.  His 16-year-old gelding Special Frisky took him to the championship.  Reynolds credits his teenage gelding's heart and 98 speed index for making him a winning barrel horse.

Reynolds, 67, is retired and enjoys having his wife Elaine, who doesn't compete, come along with him to events for moral support.

Open 4D champion Megan Moore, 11, was the second youngest national champion crowned at the Great Lakes Nationals and her horse Deckem Lilly Bug aka Lilly, at 28, was by far the oldest equine led into the winner's circle.

Moore started riding and running barrels when she was three, but her big break came four years ago when her aunt gave her Lilly to ride.

"My Aunt Dixie lives in New Mexico but had come out here to visit," said Moore.  "After she saw me ride my pony, she returned home and called and offered me Lilly.  She had owned her for 15 years and was about to retire her.  She knew I was small and wouldn't be hard on her.  All we had to do is drive to New Mexico and pick her up.  We had a few problems at first, especially at the gate, but we've come through.  The first thing I did after I knew I'd won a saddle is call Aunt Dixie and she started crying."

Because her parents were recently divorced, Moore hasn't been able to compete as much as in the past, which makes her even more appreciative of her Great Lakes championship.

"Since Lilly is 28, this will probably be my last season to run her, so I'm proud for her that I was able to win this saddle.  Her chances of ever winning another one are slim."

YOUTH CHAMPIONS

Ten-year-old Mesa Leavitt is setting records that even she will find hard to match.  In 2005 she won the Josey Jr. World Youth championship riding the bay gelding San Jo, now 16, and a month later backed it up with the Great Lakes Youth 1D national title.  In 2006 she won the Josey Jr. World Youth championship on a new horse, a 12-year-old chestnut gelding named Juniors Genuine Doc,  and now a month later she's backed it up with another Great Lakes Youth 1D national title.

Leavitt is enjoying competing on both Juniors Genuine Doc aka Junior and San Jo winning the reserve Youth champion on San Jo.  Between the two top notch mounts in the Open and Youth, the fifth grader earned $4,021 at the 2006 Great Lakes Nationals.

After watching the barrel race at the National Finals Rodeo, Leavitt decided she wanted to compete in the speed event.  From there her parents, Richard and Heidi Leavitt, along with younger sister Shiloh (who also competed at the Great Lakes Nationals) headed to the Josey Ranch in Karnack, Texas where they found the key to their barrel racing success.  In addition to barrel racing instruction, they also found their source for top barrel racing horses. It was their Josey connection that helped them find both San Jo and Junior.

"Sherrylynn Johnson and her parents Sheryl and Savoy Rosser have helped me so much to get everything right with Junior," said Leavitt.  "I want to thank Sherrylynn for believing in me and my ability that I could ride Junior."

In addition to the All American Youth and the NBHA Youth World, Leavitt hopes to do well at the International Professional Rodeo Assn. rodeos she will enter in 2006 with hopes of being the 2006 IPRA Rookie of the Year.  She's off to a good start by winning the recent Champaign, Ill. IPRA rodeo on Junior.  She also hopes to repeat a win at the All American Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus, Ohio in the fall.

Youth 2D Winner, Kristen Yunker

While Leavitt has purchased her winning mount, Youth 2D champion Kristen Yunker, 16, rode a home grown gelding to her win.

"My horse, Haul It Jet was born and raised on our farm in Frankfort, Ill.," said Yunker.  "He is out of my mom's old barrel mare, Watcher Haul by I Haul It and his sire is Rene Dan Jet by Jet Of Honor."

Other than help from Russ Ficklin in the beginning of Jet's training, the Yunker's have done all the training, seasoning and hauling on the 10-year-old gelding.  Yunker's mom, Heidi Yunker, finished him on the barrel pattern before turning him over to Kristen.

"Sometimes by first barrel in this arena is wide," explained Yunker, a high school sophomore.  "But this time it was tight.  He went a little past the third but he never stopped running."

A member of the National Honor Society, Yunker's hopes to place in the 1D at the NBHA Youth World before getting too old to compete in NBHA Youth classes.

Youth 3D Winner, Jennessee Kauffman

Youth 3D champion Jennessee Lee Kauffman, Luebbering, Mo., earned her title after winning an exciting run off race with Stephanie Russell, Wilmington, Ill.  With the two tied on their first run with identical times of 14.892, the battle was decided after Kauffman clocked a 14.544 to Russell's 14.810.

Kauffman's mount, a 12-year-old gelding, TNT Guy aka T Baby, is another of the winning, laid back barrel horses.

"He's really lazy outside the arena," said Kauffman, a high school freshman.  "But once he sees those barrels, he's all go.  He was running 90 miles an hour going to the first barrel and I thought he was going to go to the fence but when I asked him to turn he dropped and came right around.  I couldn't get my hands on my whip coming home until about three strides from the timer but he was cranking anyway."

Kauffman's favorite barrel racers are Gail Stahlman and Charmayne James and she hopes to some day follow in James' footsteps and be the NFR barrel racing champion.

Youth 4D champion Ashley Ernsberger, Avilla, Ind., credits a wide third barrel turned by her 20-year-old gelding High Stakes Story aka Thunder for putting her into the winner's circle.

"Thunder had a nice smooth run going until we got to the third barrel," said Ernsberger.  "He went a little wide and it put me first place in the 4D."

SENIOR CHAMPIONS

Senior 1D Winner, Chuck Tolbert

The Gordyville arena is not one of What A Sharp Chick's favorite places to run.  The stout 11-year-old mare affectionally called Whip by her owner Chuck Tolbert seems to have trouble putting it together.  After finishing 8^th in the Open Finals with a 14.139, Tolbert and Whip came back a few hours later with a 14.165 to top the Senior 1D.  Despite the fact they never made their best run, the talented team placed on every run they made to take home checks totaling $1,473 for the weekend running times of 14.138, 14.319, 14.139 and 14.165.

"I was having trouble at the first barrel all weekend," explained Tolbert.  "In the Seniors I tried to sit still and turn it close but it didn't work.  I made up some time on my second barrel and slid past the third a little but she kept trying and she was running hard."

Needless to say, Tolbert has only one huge goal for 2006—to earn a 6^th Senior 1D World Championship in Whip's favorite arena in historic downtown Augusta, Ga.

Senior 2D Winner, Richard Brown

It's been 14 years since Senior 2D champion Richard Brown started his sorrel gelding Mr Trucka Jet aka Tom on the barrels.  Even though Tom was only two, he took to the pattern quickly and within 30 days had the pattern down perfectly.  Since then, Brown has enjoyed competing on the gelding that recently turned 16.

Brown, 67 and retired, still remembers the night he first laid eyes on his soon to be equine partner.

"My sister had told me about him and we went to look at him in a 30 acre pasture in the dark one night and I decided I wanted him."

Senior 3D champion Linda Hafner, Cincinnati, Ohio, changed horses from 2005 but the outcome was still the same.  Like Leavitt in the Youth, Hafner earned her first national title last year.  It was an 11-year-old mare, Valiant Susie, that put her in the Senior 3D winner's circle in 2005 and the sorrel gelding, Heza Son Of A Sis, repeated the honors for her in 2006.

Senior 3D Winner, Linda Hafner

Owned by Dan Shirey, Heza Son Of A Sis was successfully campaigned as a futurity and derby horse before advancing to open competition.  Like the Open 1D champion, the gelding, out of Smug Sissy, is following in his dam's famous barrel racing tracks.

A successful business woman, Hafner owns and operates H. Hafner & Sons, Co. and along with Dan Shirey, hosts the annual Good Times Futurity in February of each year in Memphis, Tenn.  In addition, the Hafner-Shirey team, along with Alan Moorhead, will be venturing to Texas in October of 2006 to produce their first annual WPRA Barrel Racing Futurity in Alvarado, Texas.

Senior 4D Winner, Glen Phillips

The sixth time was the charm for Senior 4D champion Glen Phillips, Brownsburg, Ind.  The self employed truck driver who loves to run barrels has made the short two hour trip to the NBHA Great Lakes Nationals five times before.  But this time he took home a Tex Tan trophy saddle, Gist belt buckle and a NBHA World Show wild card.

"Winning this saddle is absolutely amazing," said Phillips who has owned his 13-year-old gelding Apollo Ranger for less than a year.  "I traded horses with my daughter-in-law Wendy Phillips and this horse really fits me.  I've always enjoyed coming to the NBHA National Show and this is really special because it's the first saddle I've ever won."

Winner Photos
Open Winners
Open 1D Winner, Kristi Armstrong	Open 2D Winner, Patti Hall
Open 3D Winner, Chuck Reynolds	Open 4D Winner, Megan Moore
Youth Winners
Youth 1D Winner, Mesa Leavitt	Youth 2D Winner, Kristen Yunker
Youth 3D Winner, Jennessee Kauffman	Youth 4D Winner, Ashley Ernsberger
Senior Winners
Senior 1D Winner, Chuck Tolbert	Senior 2D Winner, Richard Brown
Senior 3D Winner, Linda Hafner	Senior 4D Winner, Glen Phillips
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