By Mike Suchanek
National Little Britches Rodeo Association held their annual world championships July 4-10 in Guthrie, Okla. It was a hot one as it averaged 107 degrees each day. Hottest week on record there. It’s basically three rodeos in one week.
Cooper Goza competed in barrel racing, pole bending, goat pulling and flag racing.
In the flags 1st go, he got 2nd place and won a buckle.
In the 2nd go, he won 2nd place and won another buckle.
In the Short go, Coop, as his fans call him won 1st place and actually ran the fastest time of his age group for the week. For that 1st place, he won a pair of spurs.
His Average was what put him into 1st place overall which he won another buckle and was named 2022 NLBRA Little Wrangler World Champion Flag Racer. For that, he was awarded a buckle, a saddle and a $1,000 scholarship.
Last year, Goza was reserve champion in flags which is a pretty cool fact. He vowed after last year he was gonna win world champion this year and worked extremely hard to reach his goal. He put in the work and succeeded. He is now World Champion Flag Racer.
The horse he competes on is named Blaze.
His parents are Jennifer and Jerry Goza of Sulphur. He is the grandson of Colleen Pinder and Darwin and Patry Pinder, all of DeQuincy.
