ProRodeo Sports News - February 8, 2019

TRISTAN HANSEN

RAM NCFR WHEN: March 21-24 SCHEDULE: March 21, 1 p.m. (ET) and 7:30 p.m., performances; March 22, 1 p.m.; March 23, 1 p.m.; March 24, 1 p.m., championship performance. WHERE: Silver Spurs Arena, Kissimmee, Fla. WHAT’S AT STAKE: A chance for contestants to become national circuit champions and have the money they earn count toward the PRCA | RAM World Standings.

KEEPING PERSPECTIVE As of Feb. 8, Hansen was leading the PRCA | Resistol Rookie Standings in bareback riding, but he’s not making any predictions on how his season will unfold. “My biggest deal is I want to have fun doing this,” he said. “If I’m not having fun, then I don’t want to do it. I plan on going full time, and I’m looking forward to working hard to try and make a name for myself.” Tyler Nelson, Hansen’s traveling partner, has high hopes for his buddy. “Tristan is naturally talented,

went that direction,” Hansen said. Hansen grew up in Victor, Idaho, 20 miles northwest of Jackson Hole, Wyo. “When I was in sixth grade, I started taking a big interest in rodeo,” he said. “I had friends who would rodeo, and there also was a local Teton Valley rodeo. They had sheep riding, calf riding and steer riding. I was terrified of the sheep, and they would put me on the calves or the steers. By seventh or eighth grade I started getting on bigger horses.” Hansen’s journey has been a work in progress. He rodeoed on his PRCA permit while attending the University of Montana Western in Dillon and competing on the school’s rodeo team. “I promised myself I would get done with school before I would become a PRCA rookie,” said Hansen, who also trains horses when he’s not rodeoing. “I had a really awesome college experience.” Hansen is in the process of finishing his internship. He will receive bachelor’s degrees in business management and natural horsemanship management in the spring. “I’m really glad I have something to fall back on with these degrees,” he said. In the arena, Hansen also excelled, qualifying for the College National Finals Rodeo as a sophomore, junior and senior. He qualified in bareback riding all three years and in bull riding as a sophomore and junior. At the CNFR in Casper, Wyo., he turned some heads in bareback riding, finishing eighth, second and third in consecutive years. “During my college years, my bareback riding blossomed,” Hansen said. “I had a heck of a coach, Jake Hayworth, helping me turn the corner with bareback riding. I also had a lot of other guys like (PRCA bareback rider) Wyatt Bloom trying to make me better.” COLLEGE FIRST

and he doesn’t let too much get to him and he stays focused.” said Nelson, who joined the PRCA in 2012. “He has the ability to win Rookie of the Year. He just needs to stay healthy and go to as many rodeos as he can. It will be nice to take him to a lot of rodeos he has never been to and show him how to enter rodeos. I’m looking forward to us feeding off each other.” Trevar McAllister, another traveling partner of Hansen’s, agreed. “I met Tristan a few years back,” said McAllister, 21. “He would always help me out and tell me ways to improve, and I look up to him. He has always been a solid rider and has the attitude that there wasn’t a horse he couldn’t ride and couldn’t ride good. I honestly have no doubt in my mind that Tristan has the ability to become a world champion.”

ABOUT TRISTAN AGE: 23 HOMETOWN: Dillon, Mont. CIRCUIT: Montana EVENT: Bareback Riding WINS IN 2019: RAM Montana Circuit Finals Rodeo Tristan Hansen receives his saddle and buckles for winning the Montana Circuit

year-end and average titles.

Kirt Steinke photo

ProRodeo Sports News 2/8/2019

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