2021 "Rush Valley roundup Trial" Results
RUSH VALLEY ROUNDUP, MAR 5-6, 2021
If you have ever had the pleasure of visiting the small town of Rush Valley, UT then you know how beautiful this region can be. It is tucked away in a valley at the south end of the Stansbury mountain range, and is home to the famous Royal Creek Ranch. For 4 years our Utah Region of NSTRA has had the pleasure of holding one of our annual trials at this bird paradise, and we would all like to thank Chad Hymas, his family, and the Royal Creek staff for allowing us the opportunity to use their grounds. It has been an amazing destination to hold a trial and this year was no exception!
As this trial has grown in popularity over the last several years there has been quite an increase in entries. This year would prove to be one of the largest and most diverse trials we have experienced at Royal Creek. As the weekend progressed there would be two handlers and dogs with first time placements, Brayden Roberts and his dog Solid, and Ernie Wakabayashi and his dog Fisher. Congrats to the both of you. We would also have two first time winners with Kelly Irons and his dog Cinder, along with Spencer Johnson and his shorthair Scout. Way to go guys! The weekend was dominated and highlighted by the wonderful women of our sport. First, we would like to mention 13-year-old Haylie Roberts who handled her dog Ginger to some amazing scores, she is the future of this sport and was a joy to watch. She also had the quote of the day, when after exiting the field with her father and mentor/shooter Brayden, she declared “I’m gonna need a better shooter next time”. This little competitor is going to be one to watch for in the future.
Next was Diane Peterson handling one very experienced (championed) dog with her Brittany Kid, Diane was able to place 2nd in both fields on Sunday, Congrats! Finally, we would like to mention Maureen Goodrich. I am sure that I can speak for everyone in our region and say how awesome it is when we see Maureen having the opportunity to run her dog Zimmer. As a former club president and the glue that has held our region together making it what it is, we all were excited to see that Maureen and Zimmer were able to place 3rd in A field on Saturday. Nobody deserves it more! Way to go Maureen and Zim! Let’s just say all three of these ladies put the smack down on some very experienced dogs and handlers, and it was quite a pleasure for everyone in the gallery to witness. Way to go ladies!!
SATURDAY A FIELD
A field would be judged by Josh Morris and Troy Anderson on Saturday, a huge thanks to these guys for being willing to judge and sacrifice your time. In brace 5 Maureen Goodrich and her Brittany Zimmer had a great run of 4/4 and a final score of 783 to secure 3rd place. This would be their first placement this season and it is fantastic to see them back on the podium. In brace 2 on the day, Brett Ure and his 1X Champion setter Cash had a great run with 5/4 and a final score of 828 that would take home 2nd place, congrats! Cash is now extremely close to that elusive 2x CH (a mark that has only been achieved by 8 dogs in Utah history). In brace 15 the wind settled down just enough for Jared Haddock and his 1X Champion Brittany Boone to put together a run of 5/5 and a final score of 937 to secure their 4th win of the season, congrats on another incredible run Jared and Boone!!
SATURDAY B FIELD
B field would be judged by Angie Wonnacott and Barratt Gorshe. Thank you so much for your time! Brayden Roberts has played for a few seasons with our Utah region, and he has a beautiful liver shorthair named Solid, who in the 15th brace of the day was able to go 3/3 and end with a score of 610.5 to secure 3rd place. Securing their very first placement in NSTRA. Congrats to Brayden and Solid! In brace 9 our good president Rich Lowe and Flash were able to put together a nice run of 3/3 and score 621 to take home 2nd place, beautiful work! The run of the day would come from Kelly Irons and Cinder. They would have 4 finds and go 4/4 to take home their very first NSTRA win. We would like to say congrats to Kelly and Cinder, they are quite the duo and seem to always find themselves near the top of the leader board. Nice job!
SUNDAY A FIELD
A field on Sunday would be judged by Josh Morris and Brett Ure, thank you guys!! In brace 12 we would have something happen that I am not sure we have ever seen. Rich Lowe’s setter Flash had a find that would score 100 (a perfect score)! Absolutely amazing and quite an accomplishment! Along with 2 other finds they would go 3/3 and score 673 for a 3rd place finish, great job! Diane Peterson has helped our region in many ways, and we appreciate it! An invaluable member, she is constantly volunteering and over the last couple years watched as her husband Layne handle their incredible dog Kid to a championship. Lucky (or unlucky) for all of us, she decided it was time to push Layne aside and handle the dog herself…haha. Well, handle she did, and in brace 4 she and Kid had 3 finds, 3 retrieves, and a back that would give them a score of 712. This score would prove enough to hang on to 2nd place, congrats! Sorry Layne, not sure if you will ever get to handle Kid again. The run of the day came in the first brace with Van Jacobsen and his beautiful setter Jazz. They would end up finding 4 birds and with a retrieve of 96 on the card it was enough to give them their second NSTRA win, congrats from all of us, the both of you are an awesome team!!
SUNDAY B FIELD
B field on Sunday was judged by Maureen Goodrich and Cade Allen, we appreciate your willingness to judge. Ernie Wakabayashi (one of the coolest dudes you will ever have the pleasure of meeting) has come out for several years and enjoyed running his two dogs Finley and Fisher. This day would mark a first for Ernie and his beautiful little Brittany Fisher. In the 14th brace of the day, they would run in tough conditions, pull 4 birds out of the field and go 4/4 with a final score of 730.5 for his first NSTRA placement taking home 3rd place. Congrats Ernie and Fisher! Diane Peterson and Kid once again ran the field with ease as they were able to have 4 finds and 4 retrieves. They received find scores in the high 80’s each time showing off their excellent work. Their final score of 845.66 was good enough for a 2nd place finish and would also make their 2nd placement of the day for them as a team, nice work Diane and Kid. The run of the day in B field would belong to our good friend Spencer Johnson. His awesome shorthair Scout has been fortunate enough to receive several placements so far in NSTRA, but the top of the podium has always been elusive. That would all change on this day, in brace 5 they were able to have a run of 5 finds and 5 retrieves which would receive an overall score of 895, enough for their first NSTRA win. Congrats!! I am sure there are many more wins in their future.
We would like to say thank you to everyone that helped with this trial in any way. hanks to Josh Morris and Ryan Taylor for a job well done on chairing this trial. Thanks again to Royal Creek Ranch and Chad Hymas for allowing us the opportunity to run on your grounds. Thanks to our great new friends Anni Shores and Jim Wiitala for making the trip down from Montana and the Big Sky Region to join us. We appreciate the both of you coming out to compete in our region and hope we will have the pleasure of seeing you again. Thanks to all of our judges, Maureen Goodrich, Angie Wonnacott, Troy Anderson, Josh Morris, Brett Ure, Barratt Gorshe, and Cade Allen. 16 braces will make for a long day on an ATV so thank you! Thanks to our Marshalls, Maureen and Angie, as well as our bird planters Nate Hall and Layne Peterson. Nate we all hope you get feeling better, and in the meantime you better work on your sweet jumps over sagebrush on an ATV….haha.
Congrats again to all of our placements and winners. Especially to our first time NSTRA winners Spencer and Scout and Kelly and Cinder, nice work!!
We look forward to seeing everyone in a few weeks up in Newton, UT for our Spring Break trial, see you all then!!
Thanks,
Lance Hanson
