MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin closed out its 2009-10 Ozark Region rodeo schedule by winning the women's team standings at the University of Arkansas-Monticello recently. The men finished fifth in the rodeo.

Despite the men's fifth-place finish, the team finished second in the region and will advance to the College National Finals Rodeo in June at Casper, Wyo. The women scored 575 points and secured the Ozark Region title by almost 1,000 points.

"The girls had an outstanding rodeo at Arkansas-Monticello," head rodeo coach John Luthi said. "I am proud of them. They put the finishing touches on a good season and they finished well."

The UT Martin women scored all their points in two events, the barrel racing and the goat tying. Heather Moore split first and second in the barrel racing average with a total time of 29.71 on two runs. She won the first go with a 14.73 time and was third in the second go with a time of 14.98.

Molly Alexander was third in the barrel racing average. She turned in a total time of 30.01 after two runs. Alexander finished fourth in the first round with a time of 15.02. She was fourth in the second round with a time of 14.99.

Abby McDuff picked up points for UT Martin in the barrel racing and goat tying. She finished second in the barrel racing second round with a time of 14.97. McDuff was fourth in the average with a total time of 30.01.

McDuff split first and second in the goat tying average with a total time of 17.2. She was second in the first round with a time of 8.5 and second in the second round with a time of 8.7.

UT Martin's Brittany Pratt scored points in the goat tying. Pratt spilt first and second in the second round with McDuff. Pratt had a time of 8.7. Pratt was second in the first round with a time of 8.5.

"Abby McDuff had a huge rodeo for us," Luthi said.
The UT Martin men scored the bulk of their points in three events, the bareback riding, the steer wrestling and the bull riding.

Jordan Thrasher picked up points for UT Martin in the steer wrestling with his sixth-place finish in the first round. Thrasher turned in a time of 6.1. He was third in the second round with a time of 6.3 for a total time of 12.4, which was good enough for him to split second and third in the average.

Josh Chase and Casey Cason scored all the points in the bareback riding competition for UT Martin. Chase won the first round with a 75-point ride. Chase also won the second round with a 79-point ride. With a total score of 154 on two, Chase with the bareback average. Cason was third in the first and second rounds. He collected a 72-point ride in the first round and a 71-point ride in the second round for a total of 143.

In the bull riding, UT Martin's Zach Jackson turned in a second-place ride of 83 points. With the impressive ride, Jackson was able to secure a berth in the CNFR. "I am excited for Zach," Luthi said. "He dealt with what he had."

Luthi was pleased with his men's team and the way it competed. "Chase Miller has been hurt, so we rested him and that hurt us." He usually scores a lot of points for us.

"Thank God for the lead we had in the points standings going into this rodeo," the coach said. "We were able to maintain second place in the standings.

Missouri Valley won the region with 8,705 points, while UT Martin was second with 5,380 points. Troy University was third with 4,190 points.


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