Domer Caps Season-Long Grind with Breakaway Finals World Title

The veteran roper didn’t have the flashiest performances all year, but found a way to get the right results when it mattered most.

Kelsie Domer's steady pace at the NFBR ended with the veteran breakaway roper claiming both the average and world titles. / Clay Guardipee/For PRCA

The past two days in Las Vegas were a microcosm of Kelsie Domer’s entire season. 

There were moments when it was effortless, showcasing her as the epitome of an elite breakaway roping competitor. Other times, it was a case of just getting by with what she needed rather than what she wanted. And, periodically, it was downright frustrating. 

In the end, it led the Dublin, Texas, cowgirl right where she wanted to finish – as a world champion. 

Domer capped an improbable season-long rise in the standings Wednesday afternoon, earning her first Wrangler National Finals Breakaway Roping World Title along with the NFBR Average Championship. 

Domer has nine previous Women’s Professional Rodeo Association World Titles to her credit, including a trio of breakaway roping honors from 2017-19. However, the feeling after this gold buckle was unique. 

“This one is probably my new favorite just because it was a grind all year for it,” Domer said. “I’m not going to take anything away from my other world titles because I feel like I worked just as hard for them, but you know just as well as I do that this one is different.”

Your 2024 NFBR avg and world champ Kelsie Domer. Her 4th world title in breakaway roping and first since 2019.

Posted by The Women's Professional Rodeo Association on Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Her journey to the South Point Equestrian Center for a third time often seemed unlikely, especially early in the season. Late in the spring, she was outside of the WPRA top 20 all together and after some success in the summer hovered around the cutline on either side of the 15th spot. 

Going into the final weekend of the regular season, she was still under $100,000 in earnings, putting her seventh in the standings, nearly $40,000 back of first-place. 

All that changed at the CINCH Playoffs Governor’s Cup in Sioux Falls, S.D., as Domer finished runner-up in the finals but ended up as the earnings leader with $33,500 in prize money. The outcome vaulted her into fourth heading into the NFBR. 

Over two days and 10 rounds of competition, Domer kept an overall steady pace. She picked up money in the first three rounds on Tuesday, including a win in Round 3 to sit second in the average. 

On Wednesday, she did it again, placing in the first four rounds before missing her catch in Round 10. It was her only miss in the last 20 runs dating back to 10 straight catches at the Kimes Million Dollar Breakaway in late November. 

While she had to sweat out the final results, Domer was one of only three cowgirls to loop nine of the 10 calves she faced and her aggregate time of 22 seconds was well ahead of runner-up Macy Young at 30.1. 

While they were still calculating who won the WPRA Breakaway World Title, Kelsie Domer was being interviewed for winning the NFBR Average. Immediately, afterward she found out she won the Gold Buckle as well pic.twitter.com/40Z1n43d1F

— The Cowboy Channel (@Cowboy_Channel) December 5, 2024

“I just tried to be aggressive. I had a good first day, I won a round and was second in the average after the first day. So that was a really good start,” Domer said. “I knew the second day I needed to keep that average spot to have a chance, but I also needed to place in some rounds so I tried to go at it a little bit and get some round money and it worked out.”

She had to wait for the math to settle, but the end result left Domer just ahead in the race for a gold buckle. In all, she earned $35,721 at the NFBR, securing the top spot in the yearlong standings with $168,758 in total earnings. That placed her a little more than $3,000 ahead of runner-up Martha Angelone for the World Title. 

After grinding through some tough results early on, the rewarding finish is one Domer intends to savor for a long time. 

“This is the first year I’ve had a chance for the world title out of the three years. I’ve been out here and I knew that coming into it, but I knew a lot of different things. We’re going to have to come in to play in order for that to happen,” Domer said.