story by Lily Weinacht
Teigen Marchant is the 2017 WHSRA Tie-Down Roping Champion. He’s leading the event again this season and sitting third in the steer wrestling. “I pretty much like them equally,” says the 18-year-old from Newcastle, Wyoming. “I like that you can really improve calf roping. There’s no set way you calf rope, and there’s something new you can always change with it. I like that with steer wrestling you can get a really fast run and get close to what the pros are doing. In calf roping, it’s really harder to be down in that six-second area than you’d expect.”
Cliff Anderson hazes for Teigen in the WHSRA, and Alan Good hazes for him in the NLBRA, where Teigen competes in the same events along with ribbon roping when someone needs a partner. He looks up to his parents, Dilly and Jace Marchant, who introduced him to rodeo. His mom and her twin sister rode bulls, while his dad team roped and steer wrestled. “My dad used to go to high school with Jason Miller, and I always grew up watching him steer wrestle, so I’ve always wanted to kind of be like him. In calf roping, Cary Reese has helped me out quite a bit, and I look up to Cody Ohl as well.”
Practice slows down in the winter when Teigen is wrestling, but over Christmas break, he went to a rodeo camp in Van, Texas, put on by Rope Myers, and won the weekend jackpot in the steer wrestling. He often enters the Intermountain Icebreaker High School Invitational Rodeo in Ogden, Utah, held in March, and his rodeo travels have also taken him to the NHSFR and the NJHFR when it was in New Mexico. “My motivation is mostly just for the love of it (rodeo) and knowing that I want to pass it down to my kids when I get to that age,” says Teigen. “It really helps pay for colleges, and there’s so many great experiences, and people you get to meet down the road.”
Teigen’s tie-down roping horse, Cash, has been his roping horse since eighth grade. He started out as Teigen’s sister’s breakaway horse, but when she focused in on goat tying, Teigen took the gelding over. “I started roping calves on him and he really turned a corner and became a good calf roping horse.” He steer wrestles on Pretty Boy, a palomino the Marchants traveled to Idaho to buy. “He wasn’t as good in the box as I wanted him to be, but Dean Finnerty in Wyoming helped us fix everything, and I couldn’t ask for a better horse now.” The Marchants also keep a handful of roping calves in the summer, and Teigen ropes the Perfect Calf dummy or practices occasionally with one of the college rodeo teams in the area. His sister, Ashten Marchant, competes on the Lamar Community College rodeo team.
Teigen wants to study civil engineering in college, and plans on going to a community college before transferring to the University of Wyoming. Meanwhile, he’s finishing his senior year at Newcastle High School and doing an internship with a weed and pest control business. “A lot of it was just for the knowledge of all the weeds that are around us, and it’s good to know for when I own my own land,” explains Teigen, who will continue working in the business this summer. He’s also in the middle of wrestling season and helps coach the Upton Middle School wrestling and AAU wrestling teams. Additionally, he’s the Newcastle FFA vice president and will most likely be on the Ag. mechanics team. “This year I’m focusing on getting another state title and going to Nationals and doing a bit better,” he finishes. “I’d like to get a state title in wrestling, and calf roping and steer wrestling.”
