By Guy Clifton
It took 97 years, but a Nevada cowboy is the champion bull rider at the Reno Rodeo.
Markus Mariluch, an Elko native and graduate of Spring Creek High School, was the only bull rider to make a successful ride on championship Saturday, sending a sold out crowd of 8,600 at the Reno Rodeo Arena home happy.
That crowd included his dad, brothers, cousins and friends for what the 30-year-old Mariluch called the biggest win of his pro rodeo career.
“I was looking forward to tonight,” he said. “I knew I had a pretty good bull. I didn’t know it was going to pan out the way it did, but it all worked out.”
Other champions crowned included Clayton Biglow of Clements, Calif., in bareback riding; Olin Hannum of Malad, Idaho in steer wrestling; Garret Tonozzi of Fruita, Colo and Wyatt Cox of Arroyo Grande, Colo., in team roping; Heith DeMoss of Heflin, La., in saddle bronc; Hunter Herrin of Apache, Okla., in tie-down roping and Stevi Hillman of Weatherford, Texas in barrel racing. Seth Hall of Albuquerque, N.M., was the all-around champion, the honor that goes to the top multi-event money earner.
Mariluch was the first of the 12 bull riders to go on Saturday, having edged into the finals with the lowest score among the 12 in the preliminary round. But his 80-point ride on the Flying U Rodeo Company bull Heartbreak was all he needed. He watched the next 11 riders buck off their bulls, giving him the title.
“I’m just happy to stay on,” he said.
As for being the first Nevadan to win the bull riding at the Reno Rodeo, which has been in existence since 1919, Mariluch was excited to have the honor.
“That’s awesome,” he said. “I guess I made history. It’s just something that you always want to win. These spurs, everyone that has a set of these on their wall, it’s pretty special to them. It’s the biggest rodeo in the west and it’s one everybody wants to win.”
Mariluch is a veteran bull rider, but spent much of his career on the Professional Bull Riders’ circuit. In 2014, he was in the top 10 in the word in the PBR, but a torn bicep derailed his season and it took six months to recover and longer to get the rust off after the layoff.
This year, he has been riding on the pro rodeo circuit and traveling with former world champion Shane Proctor and said it’s been enjoyable.
“Rodeo is so much fun,” he said. “You get to come out here and watch all these events. It’s just real mellow. It’s totally different atmosphere than the bull ridings.”
Mariluch lives in Daingerfield, Texas, but said he always considers Elko home.
“It will always be home,” he said.
2016 Reno Rodeo Champions
Bareback Riding — Clayton Biglow, Clements, Calif., 253 points, $10,277
Steer Wrestling – Olin Hannum, Malad, Idaho, 12.5 seconds, $10,916
Team Roping – (header) Garret Tonozzi, Fruita, Colo., 16.7 seconds, $8,783
(heeler) Wyatt Cox, Arroyo Grande, Calif., $8,783
Saddle Bronc Riding – Heith DeMoss, Heflin, La., 247 points, $8,328
Tie-Down Roping – Hunter Herrin, Apache, Okla., 25.3 seconds, $13,767
Barrel Racing – Stevi Hillman, Weatherford, Texas, 51.84 seconds, $10,025
Bull Riding – Markus Mariluch, 158.5 points, $7,499
RENO, Nev. (June 25, 2016) – The following are final results results from the Reno Rodeo
Bareback riding: (final round winners) 1, Clayton Biglow, Clements, Calif., 89.5 points on Flying U Rodeo’s Lil Red Hawk, $1,650. 2, Richmond Champion, The Woodlands, Texas, 84, $1,250. 3, Ty Breuer, Mandan, N.D., 80.5, $900. 4, Winn Ratliff, Leesville, La., 80, $600. 5, Ty Fast Taypotat, Regina, Saskatchewan, 79.5, $350. 6, Tyler Scales, Severance, Colo., 78.5, $250. (overall winners – on two) 1, Biglow, 253.5, $5,318. 2, Breuer, 242, $4,077. 3, Champion, 241, $3,014. 4, Taypotat, 240.5, $1,950. 5, (tie) Scales and Tyler Nelson, Victor, Idaho, 239.5 and $1,063 each. 8, Ratliff, 236, $531.
Steer wrestling: (final round winners) 1, Trevor Knowles, Mount Vernon, Ore., 4.1 seconds, $1,407. 2, (tie) Josh Clark, Belgrade, Mont., and Jule Hazen, Ashland, Kan., 4.4, $1,043. 4, Olin Hanum, Malad, Idaho, 4.5, $679. 5, Ty Erickson, Helena, Mont., 4.6, $436. 6, Josh Peek, Pueblo, Colo., 5.2, $243. (overall winners – on three) 1, Hannum, 12.5, $6,142. 2, Knowles, 12.7, $5,341. 3, Ty Erickson, Helena, Mont., 13.0, $4,540. 4, Jule Hazen, Ashland, Kan., 13.2, $3,739. 5, Clark, 13.5, $2,937. 6, Peek, 13.6, $2,135. 7, Nick Guy, Sparta, Wis., 17.0, $1,335. 8, Jack Vanderlans, Temecula, Calif., 17.1, $534.
Team roping: (final round winners) 1, Garrett Tonozzi, Fruita, Colo., and Wyatt Cox, Arroyo Grande, Calif., 5.2 seconds, $1,370. 2, Clay Smith, Broken Bow, Okla., and Paul Eaves, Lonedell, Mo., 5.3, $1,134. 3, Jaguar Terrill, Craig, Colo., and Jason Warner, Rigby, Idaho, 5.5, $897. 4, Caleb Mitchell, Mason, Texas, and Matt Kasner, Cody, Neb., 6.1, $661. 5, Aaron Tsinigine, Tuba City, Ariz., and Kinney Harrell, Marshall, Texas, 6.2. 6, Barak and Asher Freeman, Elko, Nev., 6.8, $236. (overall winners – on three) 1. Tonozzi and Cox, 16.7, $6,730. 2, Smith and Eaves, 17.2, $5,852. 3, Tsinigine and Harrell, 17.4, $4,975. 4, Terrill and Warner, 18.0, $4,097. 5, Caleb Mitchell, Mason, Texas, and Matt Kasner, Cody, Neb., 19.3, $3,219. 6, Rhen Richard, Roosevelt, Utah and Cole Davison, Stephenville, Texas, 19.6, $2,340. 7, Barak and Asher Freeman, Elko, Nev., 20.3, $1,463. 8, Kaleb Driggers, Albany, Ga., and Junior Nogueira, Burleson, Texas, 23.0, $585.
Saddle bronc riding: (final round winners) 1, (tie) Sterling Crawley, Stephenville, Texas, on Flying U Rodeo’s Last Call, and Heith Allan DeMoss, Heflin, La., on Big Bend Rodeo’s Broken Camp, 83 points and $1,450 each. 3, (tie) Clay Elliott, Nanton, Alberta and Ryder Wright, Milford, Utah, 80.5, $750. 5, Taos Muncy, Corona, N.M., $350. 6, Ryan Mackenzie, Homedale, Idadho, 75, $240. (overall winners – on three) 1, DeMoss, 247, $5,074. 2, Muncy, 242, $3,890. 3, Wright, 240, $2,875. 4, Crawley, 238.5, $1,860. 5, Mackenzie, 237, $1,184. 6, Elliott, 234.5, $846. 7, Charlie Kogianes, Provo, Utah, 223, $676. 8, (tie – on two) Allen Boore, Axtell, Utah and Joe Lufkin, Sallisaw, Okla., 159.5, $254.
Tie-down roping: (final round winners) 1, Caleb Smidt, Bellville, Texas, 8.0, $1,407. 2, Tyler Prcin, Alvord, Texas, 8.7, $1,164. 3, Riley Pruitt, Gering, Neb., 8.8, $922. 4, Hunter Herrin, apache, Okla., 9.2, $679. 5, Matt Shiozawa, Chubbock, Idaho, 9.3, $437. 6, Jerrad Hofstetter, Shallow Water, Texas, 9.7, $242. (overall winners – on three) 1, Herrin, 25.3, $6,592. 2, Pruitt, 26.2, $5,732. 3, Smidt, 26.9, $4,872. 4, Prcin, 27.3, $4,012. 5, Shiozawa, 27.5, $3,153. 6, Hofstetter, 28.6, $2,293. 7, Cole Robinson, Moorcroft, Wyo., 29.0, $1,433. 8, Dane Kissack, Spearfish, S.D., 31.4, $573.
Barrel racing: (final round winners) 1, Stevi Hillman, Weatherford, Texas, 17.08 seconds, $2,397. 2, (tie)Pamela Capper, Cheney, Wash., and Amber Leigh Moore, Salem, Ore., 17.17, $1,498. 4, Kimmie Wall, Roosevelt, Utah, 17.19, $599. (overall winners – on three) 1, Hillman, 51.84, $4,854. 2, Wall, 51.89, $4,161. 3, Moore, 51.96, $3,467. 4, Capper, 52.13, $3,005. 5, Kris Gadbois, Escondido, Calif., 52.21, $2,312. 6, Sammi Bessert, Grand Junction, Colo., 52.30, $1,849. 7, Katelyn McLeod, Whitesboro, Texas, 52.36, $1,387. 8, Taylor Jacob, Carmine, Texas, 53.78, $925. 9, Christine Laughlin, Pueblo, Colo., 56.56, $693. 1-. Jane Melby, Burneyville, Okla., 57.80, $462.
Bull riding: (first round winners) 1, Ty Wallace, Collbran, Colo., 85 points on Flying Five Rodeo’s Sammy’s Fineline, $5,849. 2, Jeston Mead, Ashland, Kan., 83.5, $4,484. 3, Shawn Proctor, Tooele, Utah, 83, $3,314. 4, (tie) Sage Kimzey, Strong City, Okla. and Bryce Barrios, Bluff Dale, Texas; 81.5 and $1,495 each. 7, (tie) Zeb Lanham, Sweet, Idaho, and Nate Perry, Elk City, Okla., 81, $682. (final round) Mrkus Mariluch, Daingerfield, Texas, 80 points on Rosser Rodeo’s Heartbreak. (total on two) 1, Mariluch, 158.5, $5,849. (on one) 2, Wallace, 85 $4,484. 3, Mead, 83.5, $3,314. 4, Proctor, 83, $2,145. 5, (tie) Kimzey and Barrios, 81.4, $1,170. 7, (tie) Perry and Lanham, 81, $682.
