Anderson, Cox, uphold legacy in Crossfire Team Roping Series

CROSSSFIRE

In the Crossfire Team Roping Summer Series many of the riders come from a legacy of ranching.

"My grandpa Tant was a rancher up north and my cousins Jett and Brent Anderson are up there now," Tanner Anderson told the PCN. "My grandpa Hammond he had a place up north where his boy Mike Hammond bought the land after World War II."

Anderson himself ranches with his father-in-law Larry Smith, but in his free time Tanner ropes with the Crossfire Club. The 34 year-old has been a part of roping events since he was in fifth grade.

He ropes on "Boone" his quarter-horse colt, who is pretty new to rodeo events. For being so young, Boone is doing a good job for Anderson this season.

"I think it's going alright," Anderson said. "I got a few points and placed in a couple of jackpots that we've had with our club."

That day, in the opening round, Anderson took fifth, but he missed his target in the second round.

"I just missed my last steer, so I guess we'll see how the rest of the night goes," Anderson said.

Though Anderson enjoys both heading and heeling, this summer he has picked a favorite position.

"I do both, I've probably placed more by heeling so I want to start heeling a little more because I've got more points in heeling," Anderson said. "Rodeos and stuff I usually head."

He graduated from Whitewater High School in 1999, though he didn't rope at all in his high school years.

"I never did high school rodeo," Anderson said. "I roped when I was a little kid and then in high school, I focused on basketball."

He then went to Dawson Community College in Glendive to play basketball. He would later transfer to The University of Montana Western in Dillon, where he would rope for the last two years of college.

"In the summer months, I'd still rope with my brother and all my friends," Anderson said. "I just decided to get back into it a little bit."

Anderson has already started his children out in riding and rodeo events as his daughter Tova, 9 and both sons Tant 5, and Tryan 2, ride horses nearly every day.

"Tova is a cowgirl and Tant he's a cowboy," Anderson said. "Tryan rides still. He goes and chases cows with me leading him. He does pretty good."

Macey Cox is also from Whitewater and has been riding well this season.

"I grew up on a ranch in Whitewater with my dad and my mom," Cox said.

The daughter of Clinton and Denise Cox, Macey was a part of the 2011 State C Champion Saco-Whitewater Lady Panthers and after graduating that same year, she attended Montana State University Northern and received a Business and Administration Degree. Now after graduation, she plans to move to Billings after landing a job at Northwest Farm Credit Services.

"I was in high school rodeo and did it in junior high when I was little," Cox said. "I played basketball at Northern instead."

Cox has been a strong header in the Crossfire Club this season, but she hasn't been able to rope much lately.

"It's been good, but I haven't been able to go as much as I want," Cox said. "We've just been practicing at home. We come into these as much as we can, If we don't have stuff going on."

Cox prefers heading to heeling because it's what she is used to.

"My dad heels, so I head for him, so he can practice," Cox said. "You have to get out there quick and catch two horns preferably so you get a better handle for your heeler. Turn him off straight so they can get a good look at him and hopefully they catch two feet."

About to step into the "real world," Cox doesn't miss school, but she misses being at home in Whitewater. She plans to visit every weekend that she can.

"That's what I'm going to miss the most, just being out at the ranch," Cox said.

Her 15 year old quarter-horse "Archie," has been her loyal companion for the past year, though he was used as a heeling horse by her father for a few years.

Cox has been in other rodeo events like barrel racing, goat tying and pole bending, but now her focus is solely on roping.