| UTM rodeo opens 2008 season with two solid performances |
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Posted: Thursday, October 2, 2008 3:49 pm
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The University of Tennessee at Martin rodeo squads recently concluded their first two tournaments of the 2008 season, traveling to Marshall, Miss., and Magnolia, Ark.
The Marshall tournament, which was hosted by Missouri Valley College, saw the Skyhawks finish second on the men’s side with 719 points, and with a third-place finish for the women, who amassed 290 overall points.
The UT Martin men had four contestants in the bareback riding competition, led by Matt Smith’s 150 total points. Sheldon Rinkes tallied 70 points for UT Martin, and Logan Corbett finished with 45 points. John Chase rounded out the Skyhawks, earning scores of 75 (first round) and 77 (second round), and winding up with five points.
In the calf roping competition, UT Martin had two of the top four finishers with Cory Kirk placing second with 90 points, and Brent Menz’s 85 points were good enough for fourth place.
Matt Smith had another strong performance in the saddle bronc riding competition, earning 75 points. A duo of Skyhawk contestants put on a good showing in the steer wrestling battle, with Menz and Ryan Norton combining for 70 total points. UT Martin’s Adrienne Vought earned a second-place finish in the goat tying competition, earning 110 points.
The Skyhawks then got on a winning streak. In the team roping competition, Bub Bowman and Cory Smith won the event with their score of 170 points. Heather Moore kept the momentum going by taking first place in the next event — barrel racing — with 180 total points earned. Jeff Askey won the bull riding competition for the Skyhawks with a total of 165 points. Zach Jackson also competed in the bull riding event, earning 25 points.
The teams’ next action took place on Sept. 25, hosted by Southern Arkansas University. At that tournament, both teams finished in fifth place with almost identical scores, with the men accumulating 245 points and the women putting up 240 points.
Matt Smith won the bareback riding event with his score of 155 points, while Chase (30 points) and Askey (20 points) also put up quality numbers for the Skyhawks. Rinkes and Corbett also competed in the bareback riding event. Kirk and Cory Smith combined to earn 10 points in the calf roping event, while Matt Smith also competed in the saddle bronc riding event.
UT Martin’s Ryan Pope finished in a tie for second place in the steer wrestling competition, earning 100 points, and Menz turned in a solid performance by earning 30 points. Abby McDuff earned 60 points in the goat tying event, while Andrew Livingston teamed with Chase Adamson of Murray State to tally 50 points in the team roping competition.
The Skyhawks produced a winner in the barrel racing event for the second straight tournament, as Molly Alexander won the competition with 160 total points to close out the tournament for UT Martin.
The rodeo teams will return to competition when they visit Livingston, Ala., for a tournament hosted by the University of West Alabama on Oct. 9. |
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