Lemond looking to rope strong start

JoJo Lemond of Andrews backed his horse into the corner of the chute, swung his rope a couple of times to loosen up and then nodded his head, just as he had done hundreds of times before in 2008.

With partner Martin Lucero on his right, Lemond burst into the arena, threw the header rope and then waited for Lucero's heel toss to end the run. When the duo looked up at the clock, it read 4.9 seconds, a respectable run at any arena in the world.

That this run came in the pair's first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo appearance at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on Dec. 4 made it all the more impressive.

"I'll admit, I had some nerves before that first round," Lemond, 26, said. "It was our first time to the NFR and just being in that atmosphere was pretty amazing.

"But once we got that first run out of the way, it was just like another rodeo where you get up and take care of your horses in the morning and then go compete at night.

The biggest difference is the crowds in that the NFR is sold out every night and those were the biggest crowds I'd seen."

Lemond will be back in front of the crowds this week as he competes in the 2009 SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo, which begins tonight at Ector County Coliseum.

Lemond will be in the arena on Wednesday in tie down roping and team roping and on Saturday, Jan. 10, in team roping.

Also, he and Lucero will be battling six-time All-Around champion Trevor Brazile and Patrick Smith of Midland in the Super Tuesday team roping match at 6:30 p.m.

Lemond and Lucero finished third that night in Las Vegas, one spot behind Brazile and one spot in front of eight-time team roping champion header Speed Williams.

It was the highlight of the 10-day competition for the duo, which earned more than $30,000 dur-ing the time in the desert. That put Lemond at seventh in the world at the end of the season, with Lucero finishing sixth in the healing standings.

This season, after Tuesday's team roping match, Lemond will team up with heeler Randon Ad-ams, the 2008 world champion.

"It's just one of those things," Lemond said. "I tip my hat to Martin for everything he did for me last year and everything I learned on the road.

"Team ropers change partners all the time and it was just something that we decided to do."

Including his trip to the NFR, Lemond earned more than $123,000 last season. With Adams on the back end this season, the Permian Basin cowboy is looking for bigger and better things this season.

He'll have a head start on the bigger money because this season, based off last year's world standings, he'll be able to enter into the bigger rodeos on the season - Denver, San Antonio and Houston just to name a few.

Good results during the bigger winter rodeos would give Lemond a leg up on his ultimate goal - winning a world championship.

But Lemond isn't foolish enough to continue chasing the money if things aren't going well. A hand for the Darle Vuelta Cattle Company in Midland when he's not on the road, Lemond is firmly grounded in his home life.

Wife Blair is a schoolteacher and the couple has two children - son Newt is 2 years old and daughter Shaylee is 4 months old.

"One of the biggest things that going to Las Vegas did is give me exposure and get me some big-ger rodeos," Lemond said. "Any time you can get that amount of exposure it's going to be a good thing and I'm looking forward to taking advantage of that.

"If I have a good winter, I'm going to try to win a world title. If I don't, I'll probably just drag up and take some time to figure things out, because it's a tough life."