Headers, heelers put up stellar times at roping memorial
By Medicine Hat News on September 3, 2019.
The ninth annual Memory Lane Team Roping Memorial finished up Sunday with hundreds of competitors, dozens of special belt buckles won and some impressive times at the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede grounds. Five roping events were held on the weekend, and many ropers entered multiple times with different partners. In the open event, the team of Ben Bamford (header) and Clint Schreiner (heeler) had the best time of the weekend, 20.88 seconds on three head. That edged out the pairing of Murray Linthicum and Marty Becker, who were an impressive 21.46 seconds, and William Beierbach and Lane Palichuk who were third at 21.57. Bamford and Schreiner took top money in the No. 12 roping category ahead of Beierbach and Palichuk, with Austin Weaver and Jordan Handy third. Heeler Kelly Hiltz came in first, second and seventh in the 40-plus group. Hiltz teamed with header David Roy to win with a time of 22.94 seconds on three head, then heeled Tim Edwards to a second-place finish of 23.87. A 28.52 with header Bill Akins got Hiltz in the money for the third time. In the No. 10 roping, Travis Beaven (header) and Jason Schmidt (heeler) won with a time of 24.26 seconds for their three runs combined. That beat out Colin Freimark and Cody Allison (27.42) and Rob Haig and Zane Hankel (28.85). Larren Blakel (header) and Cody Williams (heeler) took the No. 8 roping win in 27.75 seconds. Levi Bowyer and Francois Vandersteen were close behind at 27.39, while Delvin Stuber and Bernie Smythe were third at 28.39. Sixty kids also took part in a dummy roping event. Jerry Marten won the 10-12-year-old division, Eli Sheilds the 6-9 division and Lincolin Yeast the 5-and-under group. The event pays tribute to family members in the rodeo community who have passed away. Organizers had expected more than 1,500 teams according to a press release. 10-9
