Marcus Battaglia Wins High School Rodeo Team Roping Championship

By Joe Naiman

Ramona’s Marcus Battaglia can sit taller than ever in the saddle.

The Ramona High School freshman is the 2004-05 District 8 champion team roping header for the California High School Rodeo Association.

Team roping involves two people: a header, who ropes the animal’s head, and a heeler, who ropes its heels or legs.

Battaglia, a header in team roping events, concluded the District 8 season with a win in the average (aggregate) May 1 at the Lakeside Rodeo Grounds. His next high school rodeo competition will be the CHSRA state finals June 13-19 in Bishop.

Battaglia is quick to share the credit, though.

“Proud to have a good heeler behind me,” he said.

Battaglia’s heeler is John Taylor, who lives in Banning and practices in Ramona. The two also rope together in California Junior Rodeo Association competition.

Battaglia and Taylor have led the standings since a double rodeo Jan. 15-16 in Brawley. Although they entered that rodeo in fourth place, they won both of their go-round performances as well as the average (aggregate) in the Jan. 15 rodeo. They repeated that perfection the next day to earn a total of 60 points in Brawley.

The team placed first and second in the two go-round performances in Lakeside to win the average with a time of 20.78 seconds on two head of cattle.

Battaglia ropes on Zero, a 7-year-old quarter horse.

Battaglia also won the Rookie Boys championship for his all-around points. He also competed in tie-down roping but did not earn a trip to the state finals, for which the top five finishers in each event from each district qualify.

Battaglia’s sister, Markie, qualified for the state finals in three events. The Ramona High School junior placed in the top five in team roping, finishing fourth among headers; barrel racing; and cutting.

She finished sixth in breakaway roping, making her the alternate if any of the top five finishers are unable to compete in the state finals.

Markie Battaglia is also the reigning CHSRA queen and will organize the contest for the 2005-06 queen in Bishop. She also will campaign for election as the 2005-06 state president.