On top of the world
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie Aaron Tsinigine of Tuba City emerged as the year-end winner in the headers position and earned this gold buckle.
Final-round performance secures title for Tsinigine
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Aaron Tsinigine of Tuba City.
LAS VEGAS, Nev.
The stakes were pretty high for the competitors in the final round of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
Even more so in the team-roping event as five individuals had a chance to win the gold buckle.
In the end it was Tuba City, Ariz., cowboy Aaron Tsinigine who emerged as the year-end winner. His season total ended at $227,671, which was $2,685 better than world runner-up Luke Brown.
“When I showed up to the rodeo I was kind of the underdog,” Tsinigine said. “I had a small chance to win it but I needed to move a couple of spots in the average and I needed to win the go round.”
With a lot riding on the outcome of the final performance, Tsinigine did his part as he turned in a first place run of 4.1 seconds with heeling partner Ryan Motes at the famed Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev.
Before their run, Madisonville, Tex., cowboy Colby Lovell missed his draw and then fellow Navajo roper Derrick Begay set the pace with a 4.3 run with eight-time world champion Clay O’Brien Cooper.
Up next was Erich Rogers but the Rough Rock, Ariz., cowboy broke the barrier in his run with Cory Petska.
According to Tsinigine, the consequences of those results moved him up two spots to fourth in the average race.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow