Rain turns arena grounds into a quagmire

The Daily Inter Lake

The weather forecast was bad enough.

Rain, and lots of it.

The conditions were even worse.

The Flathead County Fairgrounds was turned into a muddy mess after an all night rain Friday and early Saturday, making it very slow going in the speed events and just plain tricky in the others for contestants in the District 5 Finals Rodeo.

"I was pretty bummed out," Maddie Matelli said.

"It's always good to have good ground."

There was none of that this time as Matelli, a senior-to-be at Flathead High School and a member of the Flathead Valley High School Rodeo Team (FVHSRT), did her best to slop her way through four events Saturday with mixed results.

In the morning qualifying rodeo, which began an hour later than scheduled, she posted the third fastest go in pole bending with a clean run and a time of 24.93 seconds.

"Today, I'm just letting him (horse) lope," Matelli said.

"Picking his own speed. He does want to go, so I had to hold him back a little bit. I don't want him to pull a muscle this close to state."

And that's the last thing Mattelli says she needs at this point of the season. She came into the competition tied for fifth place in the state pole bending standings.

She's already competing on a back-up horse in barrel racing because her top horse is injured.

"The feet get stuck, the feet slide around," Matelli said of the conditions a horse had to contend with Saturday.

The state rodeo is June 21-25 in Helena.

Mattelli had a no time in breakaway roping during the qualifying rodeo.

In the afternoon session, Matelli had a faster time in pole bending, but was docked a five second penalty for knocking down a middle pole her final run through the course. That gave her a time of 28 seconds.

"That's like our problem hole," she said.

Knocking over that same pole has happened to her several times in rodeos.

She failed to make the top 10 on that go.

But she wasn't alone as several other riders received penalty time for knocking down a pole.

She did place sixth in breakaway roping in the afternoon rodeo, ninth in barrel racing and 10th in goat tying.

The FVHSRT did have two individuals post top times in the afternoon go - Heidi Hedstrom of Kalispell in breakaway roping, 3.34 seconds, and Chad Marquardt of Kila in bareback riding, 72, points.

Kalispell's Neil DeZort was second in the bareback with a 67-point ride and Shane McCaffree of Columbia Falls had the second best time in calf roping and team roping.

McCaffree is currently second in the all-around standings with 18 points, trailing Bridger Chambers of Stevensville with 20.

Rachel Thompson of Columbia Falls had the third best pole bending time and added another third in breakaway roping.

Lexy Rianda of Kalispell was second to Hedstrom in the breakaway and fourth in goat tying.

Rianda and Thompson are currently tied for second place with Brady Nordahl of Frenchtown in the girls all-around with 16 points. Angela Schuman of Polson leds with 23 points.

Schuman won the pole bending with a time of 22.64 and was fouirth in barrel racing and fifth in goat tying.

Rodeo action concludes today with a performance at 9 a.m.

District 5 Finals Rodeo

Saturday's Results

Qualifying Rodeo

Pole Bending - 1. Murphy Hershy, Jackson, 24.54; 2. Naomi Knight, Charlo, 24.63; 3. Maddie Matelli, Kalispell, 24.93; 4. Nicole Owen, Stevensville, 25.19; 5. Angela Schuman, Polson, 25.27; 6. Holly Matz, Missoula, 26.17; 7. Rachel Thompson, Columbia Falls, 26.19; 8. Ariel Beck, Deer Lodge, 26.49;9. Jessica Picchietti, Arlee, 27.04; 10. Baylee Jenkins, Missoula, 27.18.

Breakaway Roping - 1. Hannah Sharon, Dillon, 3.83; 2. Jessica Picchietti, Arlee, 3.86; 3. Lexy Rianda, Kalispell, 4.00; 4. Murphy Hirschy, Jackson, 5.64; 5. Heidi Hedstrom, Kalispell, 6.00; 6. Braden Warehime, Potomoc, 13.62; 7. Kari Moran-Patton, Kalispell, 24.75.

Calf Roping - 1. Bridger Chambers, Stevensville, 15.30; 2. Levi Guenzler, Ronan, 15.38; 3. Shane McCaffree, Columbia Falls, 23.76; 4. Grey Chadwick, Corvallis, 26.12.

Team Roping - 1. Grey Chadwick/Shane McCaffree, Columbia Falls, 16.98.

Steer Wrestling - 1. Levi Guenzler, Ronan, 16.02.

Goat Tying - 1. Jessica Picchietti, Arlee, 8.23; 2. Brady Nordahl, Frenchtown, 9.69; 3. Heidi Hedstrom, Kalispell, 11.32; 4. Braden Warehime, Potomoc, 12.13; 5. Murphy Hirschy, Jackson, 13.26; 6. Angela Schuman, Polson, 14.48; 7. Baylee Jenkins, Missoula, 14.81; 8. Katelyn Rennaker, Hamilton, 15.27; 9. Sarah Ham, Columbia Falls, 15.79; 10. Rochelle Toussaint, Charlo, 16.33.

Saddle Bronc - No entries.

Bareback - 1. Neil DeZort, Kalispell, 71; 2. Chad Marquardt, Kalispell, 69; 3. Brian McGuire, Florence, 59.

Bull Riding - 1. (tie) John Price, Avon, and Dustin Jenkins, Missoula, 66 each; 3. Jake Kearns, Melrose, 61.

Barrel Racing - 1. Holly Matz, Missoula, 18.50; 2. Rachel Thompson, Columbia Falls, 18.76; 3. Courtney Quigley, Avon, 19.40; 4. Casey Burnette, Corvallis, 19.53; 5. (tie) Barbara Pfeifer, St. Ignatius, and Ariel Beck, Deer Lodge, 19.77; 7. Naomi Knight, Charlo, 19.87; 8. Krista O'Reilly, Arlee,19.96; 9. (tie) Kari Moran-Patton, Kalispell, and Libby Taylor, Frenchtown, 20.07 each.

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Rodeo 1

Bareback - 1. Chad Marquardt, 72; 2. Neil DeZort, 67.

Bull Riding - 1. Dustin Jenkins, 57; 2. John Price, 61; 3. Jake Kearns, 54.

Saddle Bronc - No entries.

Calf Roping - 1. Bridger Chambers, 16.76; 2. Shane McCaffree, 22.18.

Team Roping - 1. Bridger Chambers/Jessica Picchietti, 25.97; 2. Kate Sharon/Shane McCaffree, 32.84.

Steer Wrestling - 1. Levi Guenzler, 18.73.

Barrel Racing - 1. Mariah Morgan, 17.70; 2. Holly Matz, 17.90; 3. Stephanie Eisenzimer, Kalispell, 18:07; 4. Angela Schuman, 18:08; 5. Naomi Knight, 18:24; 6. Alyssa Duering, 18:43; 7. Murphy Hirschy, 18:61; 8. Katelynn Rennaker, 18:81; 9. Maddie Matelli, 18:83; 10. Kate Sharon, 19:18.

Goat Tying - 1. Kate Sharon, 9.26; 2. Brady Nordahl, 9.27; 3. Murphy Hirschy, 10.82; 4. Lexy Rianda, Kalispell, 10.97; 5. Angela Schuman, 11.60; 6. Krista O'Reilly, 11.70; 7. Heidi Hedstrom, 12.22; 8. Katelynn Rennaker, 12.98; 9. Baylee Jenkins, 13.71; 10. Maddie Matelli, 13.98.

Pole Bending - 1. Angela Schuman, 22.64; 2. Krista O'Reilly, 23.41; 3. Rachel Thompson, Columbia Falls, 23.85; 4. Brady Nordahl, 24.34; 5. Jessica Picchietti, 25.11; 6. Sarah Ham, 25.34; 7. Casey Burnette, 25.78; 8. Barbara Pfeifer, 25.93; 9. Ariel Beck, 26.13; 10. Katelynn Rennaker, 26.26.

Breakaway Roping - 1. Heidi Hedstrom, 3.34; 2. Lexy Rianda, 3:59; 3. Rachel Thompson, 4.60; 4. Nicole Owen, 5.17; 5. Sarah Detton, 5.75; 6. Maddie Matelli, 6.37; 7. Braden Warehime, 6.83.

Girls all-around - 1. Angela Schuman, Polson, 23 points; 2. (tie) Brady Nordahl, Frenchtown, Lexy Rianda, Kalispell and Rachel Thompson, Columbia Falls, 16 points each.

Boys all-around - 1. Bridger Chambers, Stevensville, 20 points; 2. Shane McCaffree, Columbia Falls, 18; 3. (tie) Levi Guenzler, Ronan, Dustin Jenkins, Missoula and Chad Marquardt, Kalispell, 10 each.