By Rich Winter

605 Sports

WALL — Wall’s Piper Cordes and her horse “Fiesta” have been on a barrel racing tear this summer. 

The dynamic duo entered the South Dakota High School Rodeo Finals with maxed out points from the two regional rodeos. At the state finals Cordes had runs of 17.116, 17.248 and 17.421, winning all three go-rounds and accumulating 90 points with her next closest pursuer, Tommie Hartin (Hayes) well back with 73 points. 

“My goal coming in was to be consistent with nice smooth runs where I kept the barrels up,” Cordes said. “In the first go-round I had a really nice run (17.1) and after that I just wanted to be consistent.” 

Despite having an insurmountable lead heading into the short go-round, Cordes fought off some nerves. 

“I was super nervous going into the short go,” she said. “That’s where all the nerves kick in for everybody. You don’t want to overthink things but you want to do good.” 

Cordes cemented a second consecutive trip to that National High School Finals Rodeo in barrel racing with the fastest run in each of three rounds of the state finals. With about a month before the national finals, Cordes went home and got back to work on the family farm near Wall. 

Two weeks ago, Piper Cordes and her brother Kipp were herding a couple of bulls near home. As the siblings got close to home, their family dog “Rosa” got underfoot and the bulls spooked and broke through a fence. 

“Piper got off her horse and tried to put the dog on the saddle,” Kipp said. “When she tried to get on her horse, the horse got spooked and took off at a full sprint.”

While Rosa had been plucked to safety, Piper Cordes took a tumble, a bad tumble. 

“I knew it was bad because she was knocked out,” Kipp said. “I went over there and I said, ‘Piper don’t move, I’m going to get the car.’”

Kipp Cordes quickly rode home, unsaddled his sister’s barrel horse and called 911. When he arrived back at the scene, his sister had moved about 20 feet and was holding her head. 

“It was scary because she didn’t know who I was,” Kipp said. “She was covered in blood so I just kept talking to the 911 Operator until the ambulance left.” 

Eventually it was determined that Piper would be life-flighted to Rapid City which necessitated a phone call to the Cordes parents, Spencer and Paige, who were in Georgia at the Junior High National Finals Rodeo

“Mom, there was an accident,” Kipp remembered telling his parents. 

Scheduled to fly home that day, the Cordes parents had a nervous flight back to South Dakota. 

For Piper Cordes the memory of the accident is somewhat subdued compared to the recollection of her brother. 

“I stepped off my horse to grab our little dog and fell on the gravel and got knocked out,” Piper said. “I had a puncture to my head and had to get a bunch of stitches in my arm.” 

Severely concussed and shaken up doctors told the barrel racer not to do anything physical for a couple weeks. 

“I’m on the mend, not quite 100 percent,” Piper said. “It was hard to just sit there after I won state barrels. It was a lot to take in and still getting the opportunity to go to nationals I know God was on my side.”

Piper and Kipp Cordes compete in the team roping competition at Saturday's PRCA rodeo in Wall - Photo courtesy of Bonnie Law

Cordes and “Fiesta” started working together last week. On Friday the duo were scheduled to run barrels at a rodeo in Lemmon. 

“I pulled out of that because I just wasn’t quite ready,” she said. 

The next night, competing in the PRCA rodeo in Wall Cordes and “Fiesta” had a run of 16.33. 

“I had been waiting for that run in my hometown arena,” she said. “Things went really well. The ride felt good, I felt relaxed and feel like I have a ton of confidence coming into nationals.” 

Cordes says she looks forward to meeting a bunch of new people during the National High School Finals Rodeo in Gillette, Wyoming, on July 17-23, and being part of Team South Dakota. 

“South Dakota is such a great rodeo state and we have a lot of great kids that all work hard for what we do and are grateful for what we have,” she said. “We have a great rodeo community and are surrounded with real people that are always there to help each other out.”