National Finals '10 - Double Lift

It's in the history books now. Patrick Shannahan and Riggs are the new National Champions and Tommy Wilson and Sly are reserve. Congratulations to them both! Patrick and Tommy are gracious winners and Alasdair was very classy as he stepped down from his past domination of the finals. (he and Scott plan to fight it out for the win next year)
I'm sure everyone watched the webcast so there is no need to go into details about Scott's runs but I can add a little information from behind the scenes. Maid's rerun was given because she was unable to turn back without a crossover due to the fact that the horses setting the first lot of sheep stayed out to watch the run. When she looked behind her that was all she saw. The judges decided to give her a rerun but they elected to keep her crossover. It was an odd decision but Scott said they might not have given him a rerun at all so he was happy enough. Maid showed she could have done it perfectly and was one of only two dogs to do a turn back without crossing over (the only other dog was Spot) so it was unfortunate that she wasn't given the credit for it. We are just happy that the new way Scott has been training Maid is keeping her head cool and she still didn't grip today.
The other little tidbit is that one of the judges told Scott that until Donnie's grip (Scott said he got a little desperate when the sheep started to rejoin) he was in third place. Not a bad run for a dog who was only 3 yrs old this past January. Scott was very happy with Don. It was the most difficult trial he had ever been at and he showed great command of his sheep.
If you were watching the webcast at home and you noticed in the first few runs they didn't follow the dog on the turnback but followed the sheep, you can thank my buddy Louanne for getting that fixed. She told me on the phone during the runs that they weren't following the dog so I relayed her information to the camera man who thanked her for her direction and changed his camera angle for the rest of the trial.
Wendy Schmaltz and Gin won the overall stockdog of the year award for being the highest placing dog at the cattle dog nationals (7th) and at the sheepdog nationals (4th). She said she couldn't be happier. She's a celebrity now after her heart stopping run and it felt good to scream with everyone else when she shut the pen gate.
Debbie Bailey and her Huck (who showed tons of heart when you realize he was running with a torn tendon in his rear leg and still finished the course) won rookie of the year. Congrats!

Some pictures from today...

Maid and Scott wait for sheep

Maid pushes on a challenging ewe at the pen

She could have gripped but she didn't!

Half time procession - Cy Peterson from Georgia holds the Canadian flag

My favorite dog and handler team (other than Scott and his dogs) : Lori Cunningham and 2 year old Matt

Donnie studying the runs before his

Donnie stops a collared ewe in the shed

Wendy Schmaltz and Gin accept the All Around Stockdog of the Year award

The top 17 handlers and their dogs with the judges