WT Ranch Horse Team Nabs First National Championship

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, cchandler@wtamu.edu

CANYON, Texas — West Texas A&M University’s Ranch Horse team won its first national Division I championship at the National Intercollegiate Ranch & Stock Horse Association’s Collegiate National Championship Show in Amarillo.

Additionally, Cutter McLaughlin, a junior agribusiness major from Amarillo, was named national champion rider in the nonprofessional division and was voted the Top Hand Award winner, chosen by the judges from champions in each of three divisions. As the award winner, he won a handmade custom saddle from nationally regarded Oliver Saddle Shop in Amarillo.

Haylee Triplitt, a junior agricultural business and economics major from Gouldbusk, was named reserve champion in the limited nonprofessional division.

The contest was held April 14 to 16 on the Amarillo Tri-State Fairgrounds.

Winning the NIRSHA championship was the culmination of a longtime goal of coach Dr. Lance Baker, professor of animal science in the Department of Agricultural Sciences in the Paul Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences.

“Since I took over the team in 2020, my goal was to compete in the Division 1 level and to win the two championship shows in our sport,” Baker said. “We won the Stock Horse of Texas world championship in 2023, and this year it all came together with our first-ever NIRSHA national championship.”

Though this was WT’s first championship in the show, the University’s teams had finished as reserve champions three times since the show launched in 2021. In taking the championship, WT knocked four-time champion Texas Tech University down to second place. Also competing in Division 1 were Texas A&M University and New Mexico State University.

As the show’s winner, the WT team earned the use of an award trailer from Hughes Trailers in Canyon for one year.

WT’s riders competed in two go-rounds in four classes—ranch reining, stock horse pleasure, ranch trail and cow work—in three divisions: novice, limited nonprofessional and nonprofessional.

In addition to McLaughlin, five other WT riders placed in the Top 11 in the nonprofessional division.

Parker Ralston, a freshman agribusiness major from Grand Mesa, Colorado, was fourth overall. Earlier this season, Ralston was named World’s Greatest Youth Horseman at the National Reined Cow Horse Association contest in Fort Worth.

Ashley Wortham, a sophomore agricultural business and economics major from Wimberley, was fifth overall. Thomas Binig, a senior applied arts and sciences major from Houston, placed ninth. Chloe Rourke, a sophomore agricultural business and economics major from Northfield, Massachusetts, placed 10th. And Payton Porterfield, a freshman agribusiness major from Brighton, Colorado, placed 11th.

In addition to Triplitt, other students ranking in the Top 10 in limited nonprofessional division were Camry Mangum, a senior animal science major from Jourdanton, in fourth; and Tucker Huseman, a junior animal science major from Ellsworth, Kansas, in seventh. Also competing were Layten Graham, a senior agriculture major from Midway; Grace Hyde, a sophomore agricultural business and economics major from Sherman; and Arielle Wortham, a senior animal science major from Wimberley.

In the novice division, Cora Onorato, a senior equine major from Cotati, California, was fourth; Bella Bridges-Smith, a freshman agricultural media and communication major from Brownsboro, was sixth; and Lela Chisholm, a freshman agricultural business and economics major from Graham, was seventh. Also competing was Cutter Hodges, a freshman agribusiness major from Happy.

Such team competition is one way in which WT creates in its students a commitment to being self-reliant, courageous, resourceful and part of something larger than one’s self, as laid out in the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

That plan is fueled by the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign’s new goal is to reach $175 million by 2025; currently, it has raised more than $160 million.

About West Texas A&M University

WT, a Regional Research University, is redefining excellence in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus, as well as the Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center in downtown Amarillo. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT, a Hispanic Serving Institution since 2016, boasts an enrollment of more than 9,000 and offers 66 undergraduate degree programs, including eight associate degrees; and 44 graduate degrees, including an integrated bachelor’s and master’s degree, a specialist degree and two doctoral degrees. The University is also home to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, the largest history museum in the state and the home of one of the Southwest’s finest art collections. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 14 men’s and women’s athletics programs.

Photo: Members of West Texas A&M University's National Intercollegiate Ranch & Stock Horse Association championship team include, back from left, Cutter Hodges, Tucker Huseman, Cutter McLaughlin, Cora Onorato, Grace Hyde, Chloe Rourke, Parker Ralston, Thomas Binig and Head Coach Lance Baker; and, front from left, Coach Sidney Dunkel, Camry Mangum, Layten Graham, Arielle Wortham, Payton Porterfield, Bella Bridges-Smith, Lela Chisholm, Haylee Triplitt and Ashley Wortham. (Courtesy High Cotton Promotions)

—WT—