Leroy Parks of Hillsboro and Tobe Moore of Marion teamed up to take second place at the National Finals of the United States Team Roping Championships held in Oklahoma City, Okla., Oct. 31.
Participating in the No. 5 roping event, the second-place finish won each man a gold belt buckle valued at $5,000, plus $23,200 cash.
The pair finished second to a pair of New Mexico teenagers.
Parks and Moore qualified for national competition by winning a state shootout in Hutchinson in May.
"Guys ask me if winning this thing was luck, and I tell them it was skill," Parks said. "It wasn't like we just went out and got lucky one time and won something.
"We had to earn a position to get there," he said. "We've been roping together for about 15 years."
Parks said about 300 teams competed in the event.
