An Ozark Region championship and nine individual titles will be on the line as Dodge presents the University of Tennessee at Martin's 36th Annual Spring College Rodeo Thursday, April 15, in the Ned McWherter Agricultural Complex on campus.

The championship finals, sponsored this year by Vanderbilt Sports Medicine, gets under way at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 17. The top 10 contestants in each event will compete for cash prizes and Ozark Region individual championships.

The UT Martin rodeo is the season finale for Ozark Region teams. Teams are trying to finish first or second in order to qualify for the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) in Casper, Wyo.

Thursday, April 15, is Bargain Night for the first performance of the UT Martin Spring Rodeo. All tickets for Thursday night's performance are $5 each, and children ages 9 and under get in free with a paid adult. Doors open at 6 p.m. for the 7:30 p.m. performance sponsored by Martin Anesthesia Group, Inc.

Rodeo fans will also have a chance to enter a drawing to win a MTD riding lawn mower. If your name is drawn and you can make a horseshoe ringer from 40 feet away, you win. If no one wins the MTD lawn mower Thursday night, a second drawing will be held Friday.

The Martin Paving Company sponsors Friday night's second rodeo performance. Doors open at 6 p.m., and timed events and rough stock events including bull riding get under way at 7:30 p.m.

A county-wide barbecue and a celebrity scholarship auction will kick off championship action Saturday. The barbecue starts at 11 a.m., at the Ned McWherter Agricultural Complex.

Donations will be accepted at the door for barbecue plates that include barbecue, baked beans, chips and a drink.

The annual celebrity scholarship auction gets started at 12:30 p.m. Among the items to be auctioned are autographed memorabilia from celebrities in music, sports and the entertainment industries.

A silent auction will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights during rodeo performances, with special Friday and Saturday night auctions before the rodeo action.

Come see the best of the best, as Vanderbilt Sports Medicine will host the championship finals at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Advance tickets for the rodeo are on sale now at several Northwest Tennessee locations, including Woods Communications Cellular Source and Weakley woo-ho Store in Clarksburg; Weakley Farmers Co-op in Gleason; Woods Communications Cellular Source in Union City; and Brawner's Boots in Greenfield.

Advance ticket prices are $7 each for adults. Children ages 5 and under are free with a paid adult. UTM students, high school students and all other children are $5 each. A weekend pass good for all three nights of the rodeo is also available for $15.

Advance tickets are good for Friday, April 16 and Saturday, April 17. Performances start each night at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m.

For more information, contact ticket office manager Jenny Canary at (731) 587-7685.