NHSRA member, Ty Milleson – JJJ Photo
story by Ryan Johnson
Ty Milleson keeps a full schedule. Somehow he finds time to go to school, put a full day in on his family ranch, practice his rodeoing skills and when he has a little free time, he squeezes in some hunting.
Ty, 17, and a soon-to-be senior at Dunning High School, in Dunning, Neb. has been training hard for his opportunity to compete at the NHSFR in Rock Spring, Wyo., July 12-18. He took first place in the Nebraska state finals tie-down roping to give himself a chance to compete nationally and it’s a proud accomplishment for him, “Definitely winning the state title, that’s what I’ve wanted to do since I was young.” After holding on to third place in the high school standings through the middle of the 2014 season, Ty’s ranking dropped in the top ten heading into state finals, “It really motivated me this year after having a bad state finals last year. It really bothered me and pushed me all this year.”
It’s not his first taste of national competition. Ty placed eighth in team roping at nationals as a seventh grader. And that experience he feels will pay off for him this round. “I just know I want to do the best I can and not be as nervous as I was and do as good as I did here (Nebraska state finals). I just want to do three good runs and I will be right up there…”
Tie down roping is what Ty’s true passion is and why he has found such success in the event. “Calf roping is an individual event. It’s an adrenaline rush for me and is something I just love to do,” he said. Ty somehow also finds time to compete in team roping and steer wrestling but his earlier experiences have led him to his first-place status.
“I started calf roping in sixth grade and doing breakaway since I was really little. I probably have swung a rope since I could barely walk and I was roping things off-horse since I was seven or eight years old. I was in sixth grade when I tied down my first calf. I’ve been team roping since I was younger and a little later I started breakaway. I did chute dogging when I was young. But I didn’t start steer wrestling until last year. I never jumped off a horse until last summer.”
Ty has had a couple of inspirational fellow calf-ropers to help polish his skills “I started watching and started liking Ray Brown and Troy Pruitt, “They really influenced me. Those guys are the ones that really helped me, hands-on.”
He applies to his rodeo training something Ray Brown told him. “It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality when you’re practicing. It’s not how many I can tie, it’s how many I can do right.”
Ty’s family has also been an influence. His father Ryan, who rodeoed in high school, has helped him along with his sister Chantelle, a junior in college who rodeoed in both junior high and high school. He now sees his six-year-old sister Shaylee compete in a number of events. Michelle, Ty’s mother, does not rodeo herself but the entire family keeps busy working their black angus cattle and custom hay farm 10 miles outside of Dunning, Neb., a small community of around 100 people.
With Ty’s busy schedule he eventually had to make a choice and as a freshman he gave up football so he could focus on rodeoing. Never one to slow down though, he continues to play basketball on his high school team and also finds time to hunt with either his father or friends. “I hunt whenever I can. I hunt deer, coyote and a lot of goose.”
Ty has his entire senior year to plan what he’ll do after graduation. Currently he has a focus on ag classes in school and believes he may pursue that in college. Another future career interest is working as lineman on powerlines and though he’s not exactly sure yet he is certain he wants to pursue college rodeo.
