Espenson Adds to Men’s Rodeo Total in Alpine

The Thunderbird men's rodeo team added more points to the board this weekend at the Sul Ross State rodeo in Alpine, Texas.

Tyler Espenson tallied 125 points for the T-Bird men's rodeo team Saturday night in the tie-down roping event. Espenson placed second in the long round (8.1 seconds) and fourth in the short round (10.3 seconds) for an overall second place in the average.

"Tyler Espenson did a great job for us in Alpine," men's rodeo head coach Stewy Kinley said. "He used a great draw to his advantage and was leading the first round by a full second. One of the last ropers out bumped him to second place."

"Tyler followed that up in the short round by tying his calf down and getting those valuable average points. A slight bobble with a quick recovery kept him from going out of the average," Kinley said. "Tyler is new to our team this year but comes in with a lot of experience. I think that's what really helped him grind through his short round run and not panic."

Kinley went on to elaborate about how important it can be to succeed in the early part of fall. 

"Stepping up and getting those points early on in the season takes a lot of weight off your shoulders. It takes the pressure off so you can go out and keep making those runs. We're excited for what these guys are going to do at these next few rodeos."

Women's rodeo 

The women had a competitive showing in Vernon, Texas this weekend. The T-Birds began the rodeo with a tough draw on Thursday due to the quality of the ground compared to Friday's well-manicured dirt. The ground produced less than ideal conditions during the T-Birds Thursday runs, which resulted in slightly slower conditions overall.

"After a rough weekend in the mud over in Portales, our women's team made a lot of improvements in Alpine," women's rodeo head coach Alexa Wilcox said. "In a tight and competitive barrel racing, Evann Segura ended up 16th out of 178 competitors. Pyper Lillico and Taci Flinn also made great runs." 

"Taiga Thorsteinsson was a few out of making the short round in the breakaway roping with a time of 3.1 seconds" Wilcox said. "The field gets tough quickly with 217 girls entered in the breakaway. We are hoping to carry that momentum into Vernon this weekend!"

The T-Birds travel to Vernon, Texas Sept. 28-30 for the third rodeo of the fall at Vernon College.