Poplarville, Mississippi’s Marcus Theriot passed Clay Smith in the the average at the 37th Cinch Timed Event Championship at the Lazy E Arena after stopping the clock in 62.5 seconds in Round 3, making him a total of 197.7 seconds on 15 head.
Theriot laid down a run in the steer tripping in 14.5 seconds, which moved him into the lead after watching Clay Smith miss trip his steer twice. That added 60 seconds to Smith’s total time making him 221.3 on 15 head, moving him to third in the average behind Paul David Tierney’s accumulative time of 209.4 seconds on 15.
“I really didn’t realize that I was that close to take the lead right there,” Theriot, 23, said. “That was the fastest tripping steer I’ve ever tied. I am excited about that. I was pretty devastated because that was my first steer and I expected that to go well. You’re going to have hiccups, even to win the whole deal. It’s a long way from over.”
Theriot didn’t exactly have the Round he was hoping for, but he kept his head down and knocked down every steer and calf.
“I didn’t have a real phenomenal event,” Theriot said. “I messed up in the heeling, so I’m pretty bummed about that.”
Theriot, a five time CTEC competitor, tapped his own personal head horse and bull dogging horse and borrowed a calf horse, heel horse and tripping horse to compete at this year’s CTEC.
“I’m riding Tyler Milligan’s calf horse, Coleby Payne’s heel horse, and Robby Richie’s tripping horse. I have never sat on the tripping horse. I was kind of nervous about that, but it’s worked out better than it’s ever had.”
With two more rounds left in the ironman event, Theriot plans on sleeping well to give his body the rest it needs.
“I’m going to say that I sleep pretty good tonight. I love this event. It’s just a marathon.”
Theriot finished fourth in Round 3 while Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Seth Hall, 31, came into Round 3 with a vengeance and stopped the clock in 56.9 seconds on five head.
“In this go-round, I was just really wanting a go-round win,” Hall said. “During the last couple rounds I was getting a little tired towards the end of them and I wasn’t staying aggressive, so I was really trying to stay aggressive right here.”
Hall continued to push through the long rounds to move him into third in the average with a time of 198.7 on 15 head.
“I’m always going to kind of struggle with the steer wrestling because it’s the least event that I practice,” Hall admitted. “In the tripping I just always hope to get the horns and get the trip. Today I think the calf roping and the heeling were my best events.”
Hall is riding five borrowed horses to compete at his second CTEC.
“The head horse belongs to the Nowlin brothers out of Casa Grande (Arizona). That’s the horse that I’ve rode the past fall and most of the winter, so I’ve been rodeoing on him. The calf horse belongs to Tristan Mahoney, with Mahoney Bits and Bridles. That horse has been hauled a lot, and I needed something true. I have a couple young horses, but none that I could put on this stage. I rode Lane Siggins’ horse. He’s like a family brother. I used to ride that mare a couple of years ago, so get back on something that you know is really crucial. The tripping horse is Chance Kelton’s old horse, and whenever I wasn’t sure what I was going to ride in the bull dogging, I called Jace Melvin and he let me ride his.”
