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Thursday, August 14, 2008

Birthday Boy Takes Title at Torrance Fair Rodeo

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
          Better than cake and ice cream.
        Cody King, on his 14th birthday, won the 11- to 14-year-old all-around cowboy title at the Torrance County Fair Junior Rodeo at the fairgrounds in Estancia on Saturday.
        "I'm not real sure why I pulled ahead," said the home-schooled eighth-grader from the Mountainair area. "But I did pretty good in steer stopping and goat tying. It was pretty fun."
        King scored 47 points to edge Magdalena's Bailey Chavez by one point for the championship buckle.
        King clocked the calf daubin' event — the rider touches the calf with a mop after both exit the chute — in 6.89 seconds, and, for the fastest time in any division, he roped and waylaid a steer in 7.14 seconds. He also ran down a tethered goat and tied it in 13.20.
        Julie Weyrich, 14, accumulated 36 points for the 11-14 all-around cowgirl crown to squeak by Tijeras' Hallie Simkins, who had 32. Weyrich teamed with her two horses, Spice and Rocket, to win the buckle.
        "My barrels was good... and my goat tying," said Weyrich, a Moriarty High freshman-to-be.
        The participation levels were down at this year's rodeo.
        "I think we had 102 entries last year, and this year, we had 50," said Leslie Chavez, who along with her husband, Carlos Chavez, are the rodeo's co-superintendents. "We could take our time this year, and let the kids teach their horse the course."
        The 2008 fair rodeo had some outside competition.
        "There was (a New Mexico Junior Rodeo Association) rodeo at Bosque Farms, the Bernalillo County 4H rodeo was going on in the morning, and there was another rodeo in Los Alamos," Leslie Chavez said.
        This year's local affair, with a pleasant breeze and some cloud cover keeping the afternoon heat bearable, was more leisurely than usual.
        "It was a smaller turnout," Carlos Chavez said. "But all the rodeos have been smaller this year, except for the Mountainair Gymkhana. Gas prices have been hurting everybody. But I think it turned out great. It's always fun when nobody gets hurt. Everyone seemed to have fun."
        Caleb Ortiz, who had the quickest clocking overall with an 8.368 in the flags competition, wanted to make sure he beat his sister, Jesse Ortiz, and cousin, Katie Ortiz.
        "That was the main goal," the Estancia Elementary fifth-grader-to-be said with a grin. "That's what I tried to do all day. I'm just happy that I beat the girls."
        Katie Ortiz did a jig while still sitting in the saddle when her barrel racing time of 19.059 was announced. It was the best overall time in that event at the rodeo.
        15-18
        Shyann McKnight defeated runner-up Chandi Langley 43-35 to take first among the girls in the oldest age group.
        "I did well in barrels and poles, and I think goat tying, too," said McKnight, a 15-year-old Moriarty High rising sophomore.
        Langley of Estancia placed second in this age division for the second year in a row. McKnight had finished second in senior steer riding, recorded separately from the all-around's timed events, in 2007 in her first roughstock competition.
        "But my mom won't let me do that anymore," McKnight said. "I would be riding bulls now."
        Garrett Yingst, 16, scored 20 points to beat second-place Jake Chavez, who had 15, for the all-around cowboy buckle. Chavez, the son of Carlos and Leslie Chavez, was the 11-14 champion in 2006 and 2007.
        "This was my first rodeo here," said Yingst, a home-schooled prep junior from Estancia. "It was a real good rodeo."
        Yingst's sister, Kayla, also competed.
        "It was great," she said. "I had a blast."
        7-10
        Seven-year-old Lainey Fastnacht said she earned her first all-around championship buckle of her life. She beat Dixie Sauceda of Belen 35-29 for the win in the girls competition.
        Fastnacht, an Estancia Elementary second-grader-to-be, credited "practice" for her victory.
        Kelvin Chavez, a 9-year-old from Magdalena, earned the boys' title. He beat reserve champion Cooper Autrey of Estancia 29-20.
        "It was smaller, shorter," said 8-year-old fair veteran Taylor Smythe, who will be a third-grader at Estancia Elementary. "I think I did pretty good."
        0-6
        Los Lunas' Roberto Galaz won the boys' crown. He defeated second-place Jake Burns, who hails from Edgewood, 40-25.
        Galaz had some fast times. For example, he did goat tying (11.52), barrels (20.851), poles (23.977) and flags (9.281).
        "I just like riding horses," said Galaz, 6 years old and a second-grader-to-be.
        Stanley's McKinzee Shiver, just a 4-year-old preschooler, earned the girls' title in a sparse field. Jaimey Fastnacht of Estancia was second.
        Roughstock
        Tristen Howard, 12, was the victor in senior steer riding.
        "I started out riding sheep," said Howard, a 5-foot-2 Estancia Middle School rising seventh-grader. "Now, I'm riding bulls and steers in junior rodeos and the NMJRA."
        Heze Ortiz of Torreon won the junior steers competition.
        "It's nice," the 4-foot Estancia first-grader-to-be said when asked what he thought of his shiny new buckle.
        Belen's 3-foot, 45-pound Jacob Lucero, who will be in the first grade, won his second straight Torrance County title in mutton bustin'.
        "I have great help from my dad," Lucero, with much more maturity than expected, said.
        Lead Line
        Everybody won in this category.
        An adult, on foot, leads the horse and rider through a multiple-event course with shortened versions of barrels and poles. The unscored competition concludes with the rider dismounting to touch a goat.
        Jacob Sedillo was guiding his daughter, 4-year-old Sophia Sedillo of Estancia, and her horse out the arena gate when he was promptly corrected.
        "Dad, I didn't do goats," Sophia said.
        Pop quickly turned horse and rider around.
        Gabriel Lucero, who will turn 2 on Sept. 26, was the smallest cowpoke in the arena on Saturday.
        At about 2 feet, 4 inches and 25 pounds, Lucero zipped past announcer Denise Smythe, who was all set to present him his trophy, and made a beeline for a stack of red flags. The Mountainair tyke had been eyeing the pennants all day.