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Show 18 Vernal Express Wednesday, June 30, 1999 10. i.. iM : -l- : : .;---Vk -. , -j til VI r Thirteen year-old Taryn Larsen of Vernal competes in the 11th annual annu-al Josie Shoot. Josie Shoot attracts 74 women Some 74 ladies and girls gathered at the Vernal Rod and Gun Club shooting range last Saturday to pop primers in the friendly Josie Morris 22 caliber rifle competition. The event has been held for 11 y ears and draws female shooters of all "ages. Of course, those on the upper end of the age scale remain coy about specific dates and numeric numer-ic references. "We were tickled it all went well again this year," said event organizer organiz-er Carol Jackson of Vernal. "We had 17 junior shooters this year and it's fun to see the younger girls getting get-ting involved." The "Josie Shoot" is named in memory of legendary Uintah Basin resident Josephine Bassett Morris. Women of any age are welcome to compete for prizes by shooting at 4-inch 4-inch NRA small caliber paper targets. tar-gets. A total of 15 shots are taken from 25 yards w ith 5 shots at each of three targets. Shooters take five shots each from the prone, sitting and standing positions. Lady sharpshooters sharp-shooters are separated into two divisions divi-sions based on age, junior (under 19 years of age) and senior (19 and older). Additionally, two rifle categories cate-gories are also established, one with open iron sights and the other for scoped guns. The high score winner in the scoped rifle, senior division was Jean Pace of Deep Creek. Catherine Jackson of South Weber bagged second place and Kris Weaver of Vernal took third. Junior scoped rifle winners were Andrea Olsen of Vernal in first place with Becky Smith of Millville and Denna Bodily of Vernal shooting for second sec-ond and third place, respectively. Winners in the senior open site division were Vemal residents Laura Hadden and Raquel Barker in first and second place, respectively and Lynda Watt of Maybell, CO took third. Elizabeth Potter, Jamie Justice and Keely Olsen finished 1,2,3 in the junior open site grouping. Potter is from West Valley while Justice '' in9i"wm.. yuiuw mil mmm i .mi n i .on. ip i i n i i ii in,. - - - ,Qv I ; and Olsen are from Vernal.. Part of the fun each year involves raffles and other prizes. Sheila Pruit won a new rifle while a coveted Josie Morris doll went to Catherine Jackson. Suzzette Jonak won a quilt and Laverne Steward took home a new afghan" that was made by another of Josie Morris' granddaughters, grand-daughters, Amy Lube of Vemal. Sharon Massey won a Dream Catcher pot while Joyce Hutcheons took home two honors. First, was a "time-out" doll and second w as the distinction of being the oldest shooter for the 1999 event. Joyce's true age was never revealed but she was overheard stating that "she had seen a good many years." Bach year, some unique circumstances circum-stances seem to accompany the popular shoot. This year, a lady from Largo, Florida was visiting relatives in Vernal and joined in the occasion. Another, recovering from recent knee surgery also took part. However, if a cake had been awarded, award-ed, the winner would have to be a stalwart Becky Valdez of Vemal. She had given birth to a new baby on Friday, the day before the shoot. She attended and took her place at the firing line. "The first few years of our shoot, we had to talk it up quite a bit to get participants," Carol Jackson said. Not anymore. "Now, they come to us." She pointed out a group of several sev-eral women and young ladies who come to Vemal with their families from Coalville to compete. It is the only shoot they attend but they have been doing it for eight years now. This year, they brought and donated special "Josie" T-shirts to sell. The funds were donated to support the event. Carol Jackson and her husband Carl are active in shooting activities and both teach Hunter Education courses in the Vemal area. While she quickly points out that there is no relationship between the Josie Shoot and the ' Hunter Education program, gun safety is always stressed. "This rodeo is just full of world champions, both present and past, as well as National Finals Rodeo qualifiers," was . the enthusiastic assessment given by Sherry Compton as she reviewed the 1999 Vemal Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo contestant lists. Compton. a 20- year veteran with the lYofessional Rodeo Cowboy Association (PRCA), should be a fair judge of rodeos. Uintah Basin residents would all agree with her point of view and so do the professional profes-sional rodeo cowboys. The Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo was again voted by PRCA cowboys as one of the top 5 outdoor rodeos in the United States in 1998. As Compton read the names of the professional rodeo cowboys scheduled to compete in the various events, it sounded like the PRCA "who's who." Ty Monroe Murray, fresh off of his record seventh all-around all-around cowboy world championship, champi-onship, w ill visit Vernal to compete in all three rough stock events. Better still, he is currently slated to ride on three different nights - a real bonus to rough stock enthusiasts. Murray can now be securely called the "King of the Cowboys" following follow-ing the 1998 season. He not only won the 1998 PRCA all-around champion title but was also crowned the PRCA world champion bull rider. While he struggled in his Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo performance perfor-mance last year, Murray went on to unseat rodeo legend Larry Mahan as the top winning all-around cowboy. cow-boy. Previous to Murray's seventh title in 1998. he, Mahan and timed-event timed-event v irtuoso, Tom Ferguson, were all tied with 6 all-aaiund titles each. "1 remember watching a young 13-year-old rodeo cowboy wanning up for the bull ridin? event at the National Little Britches Rodeo Association Finals in Colorado Springs," Larry Mahan said. "I felt that, barring injury, this young man was going to be one of rodeo's greatest champions." On October 1 1 this year, Murray will turn 30. He and Mahan not only shared the title for a while but continue to share a friendship. Murray stands 5' 8", weighs 160 pounds and claims Stephensville, TX as his hometown. In 1998, he won S264.673 in the all-around competition and $167,154 in bull riding. However, Ty Murray will not have an easy go at the Vemal rough stock money; that is if four other cowboys have any say in the matter. Standing in Murray's way w ill be 1998 world champions Dan Mortensen and Mark Gomes. Mortensen is the current world champion saddle bronc rider and Gomes sits on top of the same title in the bareback event. While these two cowboys hold glittering 1998 titles. Rod Hay and Pete Hawkins are currently leading the 1999 world standings in saddle bronc and giiosaur Bodleo , The 49th Annual Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo is making history again this year. In a far-sighted move, the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo committee arranged to increase the total prize money from $35,000 to over $50,000, the largest purse ever offered in the DRR, will add to the prestige of this event, attract top cowboys and participants and draw the attention of national media. Returning this year to announce the DRR. is Randy Corley, nine times NFC World Champion PRCA Rodeo Announcer. The specialty act r rn ; X VLv vVf ( i ; . A m v vf - vf ' Steer wrestling champion Mike Smith made $161,862 last year. bareback, respectively. They too, will be in town to take a deep seat and vie for their share of the prize money. World Champion Mike Smith from Baton Rouge, La. will be on hand to compete in the "big man's event" - steer wrestling. Standing 6' 1" and reportedly weighing 260 ' pounds, Smith has earned $774,430 in his 11 -year PRCA career. Smith made his first attempts at steer wrestling in 1982 under the care and feeding of Steve Duhon and his father. Steve Duhon, another Louisiana native, went on 4 years later to become that state's first world champion. , The story is told that Smith, then 17 years old, was a big kid from the city who was determined to be a steer wrestler. But, he did not know how to ride a horse, much less dress like a cowboy. "I had a pair of size 12 double E Dingo boots and when I climbed in the truck, Steve kind of laughed at me," Smith recalls, "and I can understand why now." Smith said, "The pain began almost immediately.' imme-diately.' Smith explained how he drove over to practice steer wrestling two times a week and for six months he claims he never Caught one from a horse and threw it down. Persistent, he continued working 15 to 20 head per night and added, "I was bruised and battered." "Mr. Duhon was very patient, he never raised his voice to me," Smith said speaking of the elder Duhon. "But finally he said, 'son, maybe you ought to find something else to do. You got a chance to play college col-lege football. I'd hate to see you get hurt.'" is Staci Anderson. Staci provides a spectacular show, with Roman-style riding on six white horses. She not only rides her horses standing up but the act climaxes with all six horses jumping over two separate hurdles! This nationally recognized pro-sporting pro-sporting event is run entirely by volunteers. vol-unteers. Planning is done year round by over four hundred and fifty volunteers. vol-unteers. Promotions Director for the DRR, Steve Evans said, "The Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo committee commit-tee appreciates the community support. sup-port. Folks attend two or three rodeo nights. Without their support, we would not enjoy the quality of this rodeo or its nationally standing." stand-ing." Years ago the committee set goals to become one of the top produced, and most respected rodeos in the country. It is also of prime importance impor-tance to maintain low ticket prices to keep this event affordable for Uintah Basin families. Due to the efforts of so many, the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo gets better every year, and increases in national ranking rank-ing and entertaining thousands from this state and region. At the Superbowl of Rodeos, the NFR, in Las Vegas, last year the DRR was voted as one of the top five PRCA rodeos in the world by PRCA cowboys. cow-boys. ? XS rXA C , J j"' -- I I X i mm " I li sM i j (: ?Sy K; i- in Ty Murray, 1998 PRCA World winning bull ride. Smith said, "Mr. Duhon, if you don't mind, I'd like to do this." He claims that Mr. Duhon answered, "Son if you want to do this I'm going to teach you. But it's going to take some blood, sweat and tears before you get it, all three are going to come out." Whatever it cost, Dingo boots or no, Mike Smith is ma Hies The largest outdoor rodeo in the state of Utah, the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo kicks off Tuesday, July 6 with the KNEU, True Value Country Showdown. With parades, pre-shows, dances and the rodeos nightly, Wednesday, July 7 through 10-year-old putts homer over fence During Vemal Bambino Minor League baseball summer play, many home runs are hit, but only a few times does the ball actually go over the fence. Most of the time, for these 9-10 year olds, home runs are made by hitting a good double or triple and then rounding the bases to home on an error. Last Friday's hit over the fence was an unusual event for Taylor Jeski, 10 on the Yankees. "It was the first one (over the fence homer) this season that I know about," said Jeski, who plays catcher and pitches for his team. "I have hit some in-the-park homers, but this was this first homer over the fence. The three-run home, however, the homer was not enough for a win over the Red Sox. The Yankees lost Champion goes the distance with a the one laughing now. At the 1998 NFR, Smith downed 10 steers in 44.3 seconds, which is just one second sec-ond short of the record. The 1999 Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo promises to be a world class show for basin residents and PRCA cowboys again in 1999. BuDstoiry Saturday, July 10, there is plenty to see and do for rodeo fans. For more information, check their web page at www.vemalrodeo.com, or call rodeo headquarters at 1-800-421-9635. Information brochures are available at most area businesses. Taylor Jeski by over three runs. Taylor is the son of Dale and Brenda Jeski of Vemal. He started playing baseball 5 i yean ago in the T-Ball program. Jane Redfield, Josie's granddaughter competes in Josie Shoot. T h POOR |