The UTM rodeo team competed at the fourth rodeo of the season Oct. 23-25 in Livingston, Ala. The men’s team finished the weekend in third place with 275 points while the women’s team finished in fourth place with 90 points.

The bareback riding brought a first and second place finish to UTM. In the long-go Scotty NeSmith made a 77 point ride to finish first, and Josh Shackleford finished second. Shackleford won the short-go with a 78 point ride which also won the average. Matt Bright won second in the short-go and in the average.

Shackleford is currently in the lead for the regional bareback riding title, but he will have to keep riding hard because teammates NeSmith and Bright are nipping at his heels.

In steer wrestling, Jason Dement had a time of 4 seconds flat to finish a strong second in the short-go and in the average. Dement is in fifth place in the region after four rodeos. There are six rodeos left in the season, so a title is not out of the question.

Curtis Griffin rode his bull the full 8 seconds to a 73 point ride. He finished fourth in the short-go.

Ashlee Miller, in 2.9 seconds, roped her calf in the quickest time of the weekend to win the short-go in the breakaway roping and to finish fourth in the average. Miller, a freshman, is starting to pick up the pace and her talent is showing through.

Nikki Jackson, a freshman, in the goat tying took home a second, third, and fourth place finish. She finished second in the long-go, third in the short-go and with a combined time of 18.6 seconds she finished fourth in the average. With two smooth runs Jackson got her piece of the pie for the weekend. The cowgirls barrel racing was won by Courtney Barnfield. She came into the short-go in fourth place but she ran a 16.80, the fastest time of the weekend, to win the short-go and the average.

Out of four rodeos the team has traveled to this season Barnfield and her horse Way Wright, also known as Roany, have won three out of the four. The trusty steed also carried her to clock the fastest time of the weekend at two of the rodeos.

“Both the men’s and the women’s teams competed well,” said Coach John Luthi. “There is much more talent than has yet been shown this year. The season is young, and there is a lot more to happen.”

Both teams are currently in the lead for regional titles. The men’s team leads with 1195 points over Missouri Valley College’s 968 points. The women’s team has 555 points over the University of West Alabama’s 515 points.

Both teams are starting out strong, but a strong finish will have to come too if regional titles are in the future.