Sports
Lady Pintos Turning Support Role Around

Young Pinto Wins Moriarty Practice Meet

Pintos Finish Opening Tournament in Fourth Place

Sports Shorts

Moriarty Kicks Off Against Pius

Manzano Starts With New Coach

Monarchs Ready for Season

Monarchs Want To Build on 6th-Place Finish at State

Freshman Gives Softball Ol' College Try

EMHS Excited About Gym

More
Sports

HOME	CLASSIFIEDS	OBITUARIES	SPORTS	OPINION

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Sorting Contest Begins With 1st of 3 Shows

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
      You missed it.
       The stands were empty during the first day of the inaugural Moriarty Heritage Arena Sorting 3-part series on Saturday. The local series, sanctioned by the Ranch Sorting National Championships, will continue on Sept. 6 and Oct. 4, also at Heritage Arena.
       “I think it went well considering it was the first time,” said Roger Clyde, the event promoter. “But the turnout wasn't as big as we'd hoped.”
       “They didn't know us, and another guy in Santa Fe decided to do the same thing, just like this, on the same day,” added Peggy Clyde, Roger's wife and the event secretary.
       “But now, the word will get out,” Roger said. “We had one of the best announcers (Cheryl Stephens) in the state, and we had some of the best judges (Roxie Scott and Ann Parsons).”
       A new fan needs a little schooling to fully enjoy the sport of sorting. But then, after an explanation and a half hour or so of observation, one begins to pick up on the athletes' personalities — of the sorter, the gate guard, the horses and the cattle.
       In one of the rotating herds, the animal tagged “No. 10” was an ornery cuss and always seemed to be the most difficult one to sort, and “No. 3” would repeatedly sneak in behind the gate guard, out of sync, to end a two-rider team's sequential run of cattle between pens.
       “Sorting is a condensed version of team penning,” said Santa Fe's Billy Schenck, who was on the winning team in 4s, 6s and masters divisions, the first two categories denoting the limit for the combined skill rating of a team's riders. “But it's much more precise. Penning uses all of the arena.”
       Chuck Colberg of Albuquerque — he teamed with Mountainair's Curtis Boyd to win the open division and was paired with Schenck in masters — noted that sorting's parameters include two circular 50-foot-diameter pens, a 10-foot-wide gate linking the two pens, and a herd of 10.
       The open's winning purse was $396. They got 13 head.
       Mountainair's Susan Boyd swapped the sorting and gate positions, as each calf or yearling was sorted, with Santa Fe's Jasper Vassau to take second in No. 10 handicap.
       “I've been doing it a little over two years,” said Schenck, 60. “We did team penning before. When sorting first started, I hated it. But it's what I'm best at now, and I enjoy it.”
       Samantha Passaretti, who moved from Indiana to Moriarty this summer, is new to the sport.
       “I like it,” said Passaretti, who competed with her grandfather, Johnny Jacobs, also of Moriarty. “You don't always try to do it as fast you can. If you do, you'll ride the cattle too hard.”
       Passaretti, 15, will be a freshman at Moriarty High this fall, and she hopes to play soccer as a Lady Pinto, too. Jacobs was second in the open.
       Bill Howard, president of the Moriarty Heritage Rodeo Arena Committee, and his wife, Lynn, took first place in the beginner division.
       “We've worked cattle all our lives, but this is the first time we did it in front of people…,” Lynn said. “Sometimes, judges don't want to take the time to teach you. But the judges here were real nice.”
       For information regarding the remaining two days of sorting, contact Roger Clyde at 307-5576 or e-mail him at amerscot51@hotmail.com.>       

---