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 16, 2007

End of the Rodeo

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
    Gymkhana must be the Lilliputian word for a rodeo that combines sun, summer, sand, sheep, smiles, squeals, ribbons, ropes, kids, goats, horses, calves, barrels, flags, mops, poles, pickups and poop in a six-month marathon.
    "Last month, I did steers and speed events," said 11-year-old Colton Wetterman, a 4-foot-10 home-schooled seventh-grader from the Mountainair area. "And this month, I did calf daubin', barrels and poles. It's fun— not to beat everyone else, but to beat your own time."
    The Mountainair Gymkhana Rodeo wrapped up its six-rodeo, one-event-a-month 2007 series at the town's rodeo grounds Sunday. The first rodeo was held in March.
    "I think it went very well," MGR president Red Kingston said. "Sometimes, if they're not high in the point standings, they don't come back for the last rodeo. I think we had as many or maybe a few more than we've had in the past. We were averaging about 135 (participants)."
    One hundred forty entrants, with some of the roughstock kids also doing all-around, competed in a sufficient number of rodeos to qualify for end-of-year prizes. The riders, whether they're participating in timed, roughstock or leadline events, can only miss one rodeo in the series to be eligible for awards.
    "We'll get together in a couple of weeks to figure out all the points, make sure we got it right," Kingston said. "Then we'll have a meeting around Labor Day weekend to decide what kind of prizes to order after we see how much money we have. Then we'll order the prizes, and then we'll decide when to have the awards banquet. We hope to have it by mid-November."
    Gymkhana statistician Leslie Chavez was able to provide some unofficial, "unaudited" results to give folks an idea who the top cowboys and cowgirls are in the standings.
    But Chavez doesn't want people to get their dander up if things change between now and the time the board does the final figuring.
    Rica Padilla, a sixth-grader at Mountainair Middle School, rode Skeeter, her 20-year-old sorrel gelding in barrel racing, pole-bending and flags.
    "I think I did really good this year," said Padilla, a 5-foot 11-year-old. "I think I did better than I've ever done. This year I moved up, and I was the youngest one in my (11- to 14-year-old all-around) age group. I kept up with the older kids. All my times went down."
    Rebecca Moseley, a 5-4 eighth-grader at Mountainair Middle School, was in the same division with Padilla.
    "I think Rica Padilla and Leslie Ramzel are the ones in the running (for the No. 1 spot)," Moseley said. "But I think I did pretty good because I was about four seconds better on my times than last year."
    The tentative tally has Ramzel of San Antonio, N.M., in first place in the all-around 11-14 girls race with 172 points. Moriarty's Jake Chavez is the boys' leader at 174.
    Each all-around rider can compete in a maximum of four events at each rodeo. A first-place finish garnered 10 points.
    In roughstock, the pacesetters were Edgewood's Justin Goodman in senior steers, and Estancia's Matthew Sedillo in junior steers.
    Sheep riding scores were available only through the fifth rodeo, but Garrit Haynes, a South Mountain Elementary first-grader, won on Sunday and led after five rodeos.
    Lainey Fastnacht, at about 3-foot-6, was the top female mutton buster. She is a first-grader at Estancia Elementary.
    "Her (twin) brother, Luke, does it also," said the siblings' father, Jason. "At Bosque (rodeo), they count sheep ridin' in the (all-around) points so they started doing it there. Then they decided to do it at Mountainair, too, but come to find out, they don't do that out there."
    The twins' cousin, C.J. of Bosque, also was a sheep rider. In addition, 5-year-old Jaimey Fastnacht, an Estancia kindergartner, and Jenna Fastnacht, a pre-school 4-year-old, were two of the 12 six-time leadline tots.
    Gymkhana's other projected all-around winners include:
    0 to 6 years old
   

Cowgirl— Lyndsey Orris, Bosque, 187 points
   

Cowboy— Roberto Galaz, Los Lunas, 163
    7-10
   

Cowgirl— Jasarra Baca, Albuquerque, 164
   

Cowboy— Jacob Pacheco, Peralta, 151
    15-18
   

Cowgirl— Catherine Blythe, Socorro, 169
   

Cowboy— Jack Ramzel, San Antonio, N.M., 100
    19 and older
   

Female— Wendy Honeyfield, Peralta, 196
   

Male— Danny Orris, Bosque, 114
    "Catherine Blythe is pretty good," Kingston said. "She does the New Mexico Junior Rodeos with us. She's a sweet girl.
    "And Jack, he's out there to have fun. His sister (Leslie) goes to all the rodeos. But he likes our rodeo 'cause it's a little more laid-back than some. He's not into the competition. But he did real well on Sunday."
    Some of the more competitive all-around participants were Estancia's Faith Riley (0-6, 144 points), Estancia's Brina Riley (7-10, 135), Estancia's Jessica Lucero (11-14, 158), Tijeras' Amanda Albrycht (15-18, 140) and Tomé's Julie Overbay (19-and-over, 97).
    Kingston said the New Mexico Rodeo Council, at a meeting in Albuquerque on Tuesday, reviewed Mountainair's latest request for state funding in support of further facility improvements.
    "But we haven't heard anything yet," Kingston said.