Skyhawk Waltz dances near top 10

One of the “fresh” faces on the UT Martin rodeo team made a nice first impression at the College National Finals Rodeo.
UTM freshman Tyler Waltz finished 11th in the nation in the championship short round of the bareback riding on Saturday.
Waltz — a second-generation UTM rodeo athlete — drew a ranked horse (Medicine Creek) in the title round at the Casper (Wyo.) Events Center.
“We all gained from our experience at the CNFR,” UT Martin head coach John Luthi said. “We did a lot of good things by I hated it (how it ended) for Tyler (Waltz) and Heather (Moore).”
Moore worked the barrel racing where she went 14.58 in the first round and finished seventh.
She turned in the second fastest time (14.42) in the second round and finished second.
Unfortunately her horse, Hero, suffered an injury in the run and Moore did not make it back to the championship round.
Waltz led the UT Martin men’s team to a 24th-place finish at the CNFR. The UT Martin women finished 18th in the nation.
None of the eight team members who participated who this year’s CNFR were seniors.
Here are some of the other UTM highlights from this year’s CNFR:
• Ben Walker split ninth in the second round of the tie down roping with a 10.0 run.
• Jordan Thrasher, John Alley and Waltz worked the steer wrestling.
Thrasher’s best time was 5.6 in the first round, which was the 14th fastest time in the round.
Waltz turned in a 6.6 in the second round and was 20th. Alley’s best time was 15.1 in the third round.
• Alley and Clay Mitchell worked the team roping.
The duo turned in a time of 6.9 in the first round and finished third.
Alley and Mitchell went 12. 4 in the third round and finished 12th, just missing out on the championship short round.
• Juniors Chelsie McDade and Abby McDuff worked both the breakaway roping and goat tying events.
McDade turned in a time of 3.2 in the third round of the breakaway and split tenth place in the round with two others.
• McDade was 31st in the goat tying while McDuff was 36th in the event.
Both McDade and McDuff turned in their best runs in the second round. McDade went 7.1, while McDuff went 7.9.
• Ken Mason, head coach of Missouri Valley College and former UT Martin cowboy was named the 2011 National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association’s Coach of the Year.

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