About: Ted

GUTHRIE, Okla. – The most unique championship in Western sports history is coming to a head. The CINCH Timed Event Championship will highlight the 20 best all-around timed-event cowboys in the game in a rugged exhibition of talent, horsemanship and stamina. Each will compete in the five disciplines for five rounds spread out over just three days. The preparatory work has been ongoing for weeks as each man has put his physical and mental capabilities to the test. Now is when they want to shine, with performances beginning at noon and 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. “By now, I just want to know I’ve got the best horses available that I can,” said Jess Tierney, the reigning champ and the third member of his family to have earned this prestigious title. “I know that for the last 60 days, I’ve sacrificed something in my life to be in good shape and mentally prepared for it – I’ve been spending more time preparing and less with my family, but this is an important event to me. “I’m just going to try to be a cowboy.” That’s a key ingredient in the “Ironman of ProRodeo.” This is the one time a year that Trevor Brazile and JoJo LeMond wrestle steers. This weekend will be the last time in 2018 that Clayton Hass and reigning heading world champion will compete in single steer roping. Each man will be placed in uncomfortable situations through each round. The true test till come in how they handle the adversity. It’s one of the things that makes the Timed Event so unique and so cherished by its champions. “There’s not another event like it,” said Brazile, a seven-time Timed Event champion from Decatur, Texas. “It is the purest of timed-event contests, then you put it in a venue like the Lazy E, and it adds that much more of a cowboy contest.” He knows a little bit about it. In addition to his seven CTEC crowns, he is also the greatest cowboy in the history of the game, with 23 PRCA world champions – 13 all-around, six steer roping, three tie-down roping and one in heading. But he’s just one of 20 who has a chance to win this coveted title. The talent that will make up the combatants in this year’s Timed Event is as loaded as has ever been seen in this championship’s 34-year history. But there’s so much more that goes into the weekend, including the second straight year of the Jr. Ironman, showcasing 10 talented cowboys between the ages of 15-20. As has happened in years past, the annual chuckwagon cooking contest will take place in conjunction with the festivities. It was named the 2017 American Chuck Wagon Association’s event of the year. Breakfast will begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, and the dinner will begin at 3 p.m. Tickets may be purchased through www.Ticketmaster.com. Added to the event will be the marketplace and the CINCH Fan Zone. The marketplace will have fashion, tack, leather goods, farm and ranch equipment and more. The CINCH Fan Zone will have autograph sessions daily beginning at 10 a.m. and after the evening performances on Friday, March 2, and Saturday, March 3. It will also feature a bar, games, giveaways, a lounge area to watch each performance live, a photo booth and the CINCH Kids Dummy Roping presented by Heel-O-Matic – kids can rope with the Jr. Ironman contestants before the Friday and Saturday evening performances.

Four months ago, Trell Etbauer suffered a broken arm at the RAM Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo in Duncan, Okla. He was scheduled to compete next weekend at the CINCH Timed Event Championship at the Lazy E. Word came down today that it’s not going to happen. “Unfortunately, my arm doesn’t feel strong enough to compete at this year’s Cinch Timed Event,” Etbauer wrote on a Facebook post Saturday afternoon. “It was a tough decision to have to turn out my most favorite event I go to all year long. Best of luck to those entered and helping.” He will be replaced by Lane Karney of Creston, Calif., who first competed at the “Ironman of ProRodeo” last year. Karney, who focuses on heading and tie-down roping, proved last year why he was in the mix.

ALTUS, Okla. – Makayla Mack might just be finding her groove in the Central Plains Region. A sophomore from Christmas, Fla., Mack placed in both rounds and won the two-run aggregate title this past weekend at the Kansas State University rodeo in Manhattan, Kan. She earned 155 points and helped the Western Oklahoma State College women’s team to a third-place finish. Those are big statements by the talented Floridian, but the biggest is that she moved into the No. 1 spot in the region with just five events left on the season. “Last semester, I won two go-rounds, which is pretty good,” Mack said. “I’d like to do what I did this past weekend at every rodeo. The average helps boost you up a lot in the standings. “I feel like I’ve had a blessed year. Hopefully I can just keep that going for the rest of the year and see where it winds up at the end of the season.” If her weekend runs were any proof, she has plenty of things to look back at as she continues to push herself forward. Of course, she leans on teammates and her mentors, like rodeo coach Jess Tierney and assistant Jace Crabb, both of whom have competed at a high level in ProRodeo. “The coaches just give us great support, which goes a long way,” she said. “Jess called before the short-go and told me I had a good calf, and that played well in my mind as I approached the short-go. “The coaches help a lot with both the mental and physical aspects of rodeo. The mental aspect goes a long way … just having a good attitude coming in and having the confidence that I’m a good roper. They also help with the technical aspect. We make sure on how I’m roping the dummy or making sure I’m scoring sharp and roping good in the practice pens. It just bleeds over into the performances at the rodeos.” Of course, part of the performance comes with her teammate, a 6-year-old gelding she has named ADD. “We bought him and another horse when he was 2,” Mack said. “I was able to break and train him myself. I had an older horse out here last year, and I also brought ADD out here, too, so I could get him seasoned. He’s my main mount now, and his name is appropriate, because I think he does have Attention Deficit Disorder; he’s into everything.” He’s also into winning, but he wasn’t the only one. Mack was joined in the championship round by Jayme Flowers, who earned her second run in barrel racing. For the men’s team, Haven Meged of Miles City, Mont., led the Pioneers by making the short round in both tie-down roping and team roping. He was joined in the short round by J.T. Adamson, who split the first-round victory in tie-down roping, while Meged finished tied for third. Meged and header Zane Thompson of Cheyenne, Wyo., placed in both rounds of team roping and finished fourth overall. Those points were critical to Western’s sixth-place finish in Kansas. “We knew we had a good steer in the first round,” said Thompson, the son of Frank Thompson, the 2000 world champion steer wrestler. “Jess and I talked about it, and we didn’t think we needed to be that fast. We just needed to be solid and make sure we got another steer (in the short round). “We wanted to have something to build off of. Our short-go steer wasn’t that good, but we got by him. I think Haven and I were thankful we did.” This is a solid start to the spring portion of the season. The K-State event also serves as the halfway point of the 10-event season, so there are plenty of opportunities for the cowboys and cowgirls to move up in the standings. Only the top two teams in the men’s and women’s rankings and the top three contestants in each event will advance to the College National Finals Rodeo, which takes place at Casper, Wyo., in June. It takes a lot of work and a great mental game to earn a spot in the national championship. “It means a lot to do well at the first rodeo, because it gets your spring started off right,” Thompson said. “When you can get the ball rolling, it sure makes it easier to get excited going to the next rodeo. “I had a pretty tough fall, but I worked at it all winter long. I went to Arizona, and I worked at it every day, so it was gratifying to go out there this weekend and do well. Now we’re looking forward to hopefully making it to the college finals.”

ALVA, Okla. – The colors at Kansas State University are purple and white, but the championship round of its rodeo looked a lot like Northwestern Oklahoma State University. The Northwestern contestants made up 25 spots in Sunday’s short round in Manhattan, Kan., showcasing the red and black vests inside Weber Arena on the K-State campus. The Rangers won the team title and had three event champions: barrel racer Ashlyn Moeder, tie-down roper Ethan Price and steer wrestler Riley Westhaver. “I think we’re off to a really good start,” said Westhaver, a junior from High River, Alberta. “Everybody’s feeling good and ready to keep moving on.” He was the leader of a six-man contingent of bulldoggers in the K-State short round. He was joined by Talan Roseland of Marshalltown, Iowa, who finished tied for second with Grayson Allred of Kanarraville, Utah. Allred won the opening round with an arena-record setting 4.2-second run, then settled for sixth place in the finale. Westhaver utilized a very strong short-go to win the two-run aggregate and the bulk of the points. He finished fourth in the opening round with a 5.4-second run, then blistered a 4.4-second run in the short round to win the average by more than two seconds. “I think the short go went pretty good,” Westhaver said. “I had a little trouble in the box, but it just sorted itself out. I saw my start and went out and made a decent run. I had a pretty good steer.” Jace Rutledge of Harrisonville, Mo., placed in a tie for second in the short round and finished in a tie for fifth place in the average. Brent Woodward of Dupree, S.D., finished second in the first round, while Wacey Dorenkamp of Bristol, Colo., finished fifth in the short round. Neither placed in the average, but they were a consistent piece of the puzzle for the Northwestern men. Price, of Leedey, Okla., proved consistency works best. He finished sixth in the long round with a 10.4-second run, then was 10.5 seconds to win the championship round and the average title. He was joined in the short round by Allred, who posted a 10.8 second run to earn a spot in the finale. The Rangers were also represented in the short round by five team ropers: Sean Doherty, a heeler from Kim, Colo., who placed eighth in the first round with his teammate, Tanner Samuelson of Fort Hays (Kan.) State University; Logan Wood, a header from Prescott, Iowa, and his partner, Edgar Fierro, a heeler from Hennessey, Okla.; and header Kass Bittle of Kremlin, Okla., and his partner, Jaydon Laubhan, a heeler from Follett, Texas. The women were paced by the Rangers’ barrel racing contingent. Moeder of Oakley, Kan., won the first round and the average and was followed by two teammates: Alyssa Gabrielson of Perham, Minn., won the short round and finished second in the average; and Sara Bynum of Beggs, Okla., finished third in the short round and average. They were joined in the short round by Jennifer Massing of Ponoka, Alberta. There were six Northwestern breakaway ropers in the championship round, led by Brandi Hollenbeck of Hutchinson, Kan., who won the short round and finished third overall. She was followed by Melissa Couture of Springdale, Ark., who finished fourth; Sami McGuire of Backus, Minn., who placed fifth; and Sage Allen of Pawhuska, Okla., who was sixth. They were joined in the finale by Cassy Woodward of Dupree and Aundrea Dufrane of Dawson, Minn., who finished the first round in a three-way tie for fifth. Dufrane and Massing also advanced to the championship round in goat-tying. Dufrane finished in a tie for second place in the first round with a 6.5-second run but was long on her second run. Massing share the short-round victory with a 6.5, then finished in a tie for second with a two-run cumulative time of 13.9 seconds. Overall, it was an outstanding appearance by the Rangers in Kansas. Westhaver proved that having a strong mental approach to go along with athleticism was beneficial. “I just try to hang out and stay lose,” he said. “I try not to get too worked up about it. You would think it’s more of a physical sport, but when you get there, it’s more mental. You’ve spent so much time practicing that your mental game takes over. “I’m just going to keep practicing every day and hopefully make the college finals. That’s my end goal.”

SAN ANGELO, Texas – There was a different look on Justin Josey’s face Saturday night as he entered San Angelo Coliseum. It was a combination of determination and confidence, and he had a distinct swagger as he prepared for the Bullfighters Only event in conjunction with the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo. His opponent was Black Soul, a quick and aggressive black Spanish fighting bull from Rockin’ B and Magnifica. “He was my short-round bull in Austin last year, and I was 89.5,” Josey said. “Then I watched him hook the snot out of somebody in Vegas. He’s all there; he tries every time and gives you a massive pocket. He’ll try just as hard as you will, if not harder.” It showed in both combatants. Black Soul stayed on the aggressive through most of the first 40 seconds of the bout, and Josey countered every attack with quick steps and fiery twists, staying just enough out of harm’s way. The two athletes provided an event-winning 87-point bout. “I’m not going to lie: I was nervous,” Josey said. “But, it helps to have the best bull in the pen. You could have won on any of the three bulls that were there. They gave you all they had for the fight, and that’s all you can ask for.” In addition to taking the BFO-San Angelo crown, Josey also qualifies for the Bullfighters Only event in conjunction with the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, which is set for Saturday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. There he will be in the mix with five other top BFO bullfighters: two-time reigning champion Weston Rutkowski, Toby Inman, Kris Furr, Dayton Spiel and Tanner Zarnetski. “It means a lot to qualify for San Antonio,” Josey said. “I’m just trying to start the new year off right and get rolling. Now I have a chance to win $12,500 in San Antonio to go along with what I won in San Angelo. I still have to take care of business, but it’s a nice feeling right now.” RESULTS 1. ustin Josey, 87 points against Rockin B and Magnifica’s Black Soul; 2. Schell Apple, 84; 3. Zach Call, 79.