Columbus Draw: Triplett to make Season Debut; Lockwood out 1 Week
By: Justin Felisko
April 26, 2018
Matt Triplett is making his season debut this weekend. Photo: Matt Breneman/BullStockMedia.com.
PUEBLO, Colo. – Matt Triplett admits it was a little depressing making the seven-hour drive to Billings, Montana, last weekend and not being able to compete in his home state.
However, the trip was well worth it as he was given clearance by Dr. Tandy Freeman to return to competition this weekend at the Columbus Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, following offseason reconstructive left shoulder surgery.
Freeman performed Triplett’s surgery on Nov. 8 and had to insert two four-inch screws into Triplett’s free arm shoulder.
The surgery was Triplett’s third in the past two seasons, as well as his second in three years on his left shoulder.
Triplett missed five months in 2016 recovering from reconstructive shoulder surgery on the same shoulder after missing the first nine events of 2016 because of offseason elbow surgery.
“We are done,” Triplett said with a laugh. “I am going to keep wearing the brace I wore at the Finals. Even though I didn’t ride worth a heck, it felt good. My shoulder just wouldn’t stay in. I am going to have that as a little extra support to be safe. I am just ready to go.”
Triplett was on the edge of the 2017 world title race before injuring his shoulder in Springfield, Missouri, in September. He competed in Uniondale, New York, before returning for the PBR World Finals. The Columbia Falls, Montana, bull rider went 1-for-5 in Las Vegas to finish the year 19th in the world standings.
Prior to his September run of injuries, which also included a concussion sustained in Thackerville, Oklahoma, Triplett was seventh in the world standings.
Triplett finished third and fifth in the world in 2014 and 2015 before his two-and-half-year run on the injury list or operating table.
The 26-year-old believes he can regain that form in 2018.
“It is like riding a bike,” Triplett said. “You don’t forget how to do it. You just have to dust off the cobwebs and step back on and get your timing back. I am physically more prepared than I have ever been. I am training harder than I ever did, and I have trained hard as it is. I have trained a lot harder than ever. Mentally, I just have to get on that one bull to dust off those cobwebs and I will be ready.
Triplett got on some practice bulls at home in Montana Wednesday before beginning his journey to Columbus.
Not only has Triplett been putting hours upon hours in at the gym, Triplett has also been getting on his buckrite drop barrel before breakfast, lunch and dinner to improve how he uses his feet while riding.
Triplett will look for his first qualified ride of the season aboard Chopper (2-2, PBR UTB).
Fans can watch all of Round 1 exclusively on RidePass beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Triplett has eight injury exemptions for the 25th PBR: Unleash The Beast before being subject to the cutline.
Koal Livingston is also making his season debut following offseason reconstructive surgery on his left shoulder. Livingston battled his way through the injury for the majority of 2017 and finished 35th in the world standings.
The 19-year-old has drawn Lab Rat (10-1, PBR UTB), and he has five guaranteed Unleash The Beast events before being subject to the cutline.
Livingston wasn’t sure exactly what Freeman did to fix his shoulder, but he “feels good as new.”
The Burleson, Texas, bull rider got on a practice bull on Wednesday afternoon.
“I got on one and felt great,” Livingston said via text.
Meanwhile, 2008 World Champion Guilherme Marchi is returning for the first time in over a month since fracturing his sternum, breaking a rib and spraining his right sternoclavicular joint at the Ty Murray Invitational.
Marchi takes on Lawton (0-0, PBR UTB) in Round 1.
Three-time World Champion Silvano Alves has drawn Redbone (0-0, PBR UTB) after missing last week’s event with a neck strain.
Another World Champion, Jess Lockwood, has decided to skip the Columbus Invitational because of his on-going riding hand injury.
“Yeah letting it get good for Vegas being I’m in two deals there,” Lockwood said via text on Wednesday.
Lockwood is competing in the PBR’s Last Cowboy Standing, as well as the WRCA Rodeo Showdown at Helldorado Days.
There are an additional 11 riders in the Top 35 not competing in Columbus – No. 6 Jose Vitor Leme (torn left ACL), No. 9 Dener Barbosa (broken right foot), No. 10 Cody Teel (broken left ankle), No. 21 Gage Gay (reconstructive right knee surgery), No. 22 Tanner Byrne (illness) No. 23 Emilio Resende(left shoulder surgery), No. 24 Nathan Burtenshaw (broken right clavicle), No. 30 J.B. Mauney (broken back T1/T2), No. 31 Fraser Babbington(ineligibile), No. 33 Chase Robbins (right shoulder surgery), No. 35 Brady Oleson (left shoulder).
There are nine alternates in the draw attempting to crack the Top 35 – No. 36 Cody Heffernan (-5.83 points back), No. 39 Juan Carlos Contreras (-20.83 points), No. 40 Brock Radford (-33.33 points), No. 41 Cody Campbell (-47.5 points), No. 42 Michael Lane (-50.83 points), No. 42 Colten Jesse (-50.83 points), No. 45 Alisson Souza (-68.33 points), No. 46 Justin Granger (-75.83 points), No. 46 Lindomar Lino (-75.83 points), No. 49 Fernando Henrique Novais (-95.83 points) and No. 53 Rubens Barbosa (-109.17 points).
World leader Claudio Montanha Jr. takes on Line Drive (0-0, PBR UTB) in Round 1.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
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