ProRodeo Sports News - February 9, 2018

PARTNERS

Team Scramble

Jr. Dees and Tyler McKnight roped together at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2017. PRCA ProRodeo photo by Greg Westfall

Team ropers switch partners for 2018 season

JR. DEES • Residence: Aurora, S.D. • Age: 20 • PRCA member since 2016 • Header • Finished 11th in 2017 How did you and Tyler McKnight pair up?

TYLER MCKNIGHT • Residence: Wells, Texas • Age: 28 • PRCA member since 2008 • Heeler • Finished 11th in 2017 How did you and Jr. Dees pair up?

L BY MATT NABER

ike a shuffling deck of cards, the team roping lineup is constantly changing. Whether it’s logistics, scheduling,

qualifying or simply finding the perfect match for a header and heeler, team ropers face a unique set of challenges. Getting both cowboys and their horses to practice sessions and competitions is tough – and sometimes impossible when one roper qualifies for a rodeo but his partner doesn’t. For instance, Ty Blasingame is planning on competing alongside Levi Tyan this year, but Tyan isn’t competing at San Antonio, so Blasingame’s option is to compete alongside Trey Yates. Sometimes ropers are brought together by circumstances falling into place, only to find out they make a solid team, as was the case for Tyler McKnight and Jr. Dees at the Days of ’47 Cowboy Games and Rodeo in Salt Lake City last summer and again at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in December. Whether it was by fate or by planning, team ropers with new partners are hitting the 2018 season with a new approach and a new outlook.

We initially paired up at Salt Lake City. I was entered with someone else who was hurt, and McKnight was the alternate. We won and then went our separate ways and then did some Champions Challenges and then the NFR. We practiced quite a bit and talked about roping next year, and then halfway through the Finals we had to enter in Denver, so we decided to rope together from then on. What changes have you had to make to your roping now that you’re roping with McKnight? Really none, but sometimes we make a better run if I take another swing and set him up. He’s an extremely fast heeler. What are the advantages you see from roping with McKnight? The big thing is some people don’t rope well together, and he and I rope well together. I think a lot of it is we’re both aggressive ropers and we grew up with no money and had to figure it out, so we’re pretty gritty. We both want it pretty bad and crave it. He’s 28 and I’m 20, and he’s kind of a role model for me – we’ll talk about our run, like he’ll recommend horses for a certain setup or try some little tips, like being smart about a run.

I think circumstances and the way everything fell. We hardly knew each other, but we won Salt Lake City and roped (together) at the Finals, and we did pretty good there and won decent together, so we decided to try it out. What changes have you had to make to your roping now that you’re roping with Dees? The only different thing is he’s really young and I’ve got a few years on him. I never really had to do the entering before, but now I’m doing all the entering. I have to be more responsible now, but I think it makes me aware of everything that’s going on. Now, I make the plans, and he’s just 20 years old and he looks to me to do all of that. What are the advantages you see from roping with Dees? He’s young and he really wants it and is craving it. He has fun everywhere he goes and is excited to go everywhere. I’ve missed the Finals by a bit a couple of times, and you get a little burned out. But roping with him has me fired up. He really wants to rodeo and that makes it fun.

ProRodeo Sports News 2/9/18

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