Monday Notebook: Denver, Odessa, and the 2025 Season So Far

Monday Notebook: Denver, Odessa, and the 2025 Season So Far

Published On: January 20, 2025Categories: Featured, News, PRCA, Rodeo

NWSS Photo by Ric Andersen

The Monday Notebook has a new home at USCowboy.com, and it will be more in-depth than ever before in 2025, especially as the year develops. More details on that later in the week, for now let’s dive into what has happened so far in the new ProRodeo season.

  • Bareback rider Bradlee Miller is No. 1 in the bareback riding after a breakout NFR in 2024 and a stellar weekend at the National Western. The 21-year-old Texan almost rallied from No. 11 at the beginning of the NFR to win an improbable Gold Buckle, and picked up right where he left off in the 2025 season. He has made over $10,000 since Dec. 1 and is poised for more as he has the highest marked ride of the National Western so far at 87 points. He has been 82.5 points or better on his last five rides.

 

  • Shad Mayfield is already No. 2 in the PRCA Tie-Down Roping World Standings. Mayfield broke the regular season earnings record in the tie-down and finished as the PRCA All-Around World Champion in 2024 and has already put himself back near the position again in 2025. He trails four-time NFR qualifier John Douch by about $3,500 after winning the Sandhills Stock Show and Rodeo on Jan. 11. He is also in position to make the Semifinals in Denver. Mayfield has $17,361 to his name so far and has earned more than $200,000 each of the last three regular seasons.

 

  • Stetson Wright has not missed a beat in the bull riding, but struggled a bit in the saddle bronc riding. The eight-time World Champion was cleared for action earlier this month after missing all of 2024 and started with a bang in the bull riding when he rode the Cervi Brothers’ Heyoka for 89 points in Round 1 of the National Western. He is the only one to cover two bulls through the first seven performances in Denver, however, in the saddle bronc riding, both of his rides there were in the 70s. Wright has two PRCA Bull Riding World Championships and a PRCA Saddle Bronc Riding World Championships Since 2021.

 

  • There is still, however, plenty of Wright representation at the top of the PRCA Saddle Bronc Riding World Standings. Stetson hasn’t made noise through his first two rides, but his brothers are a different story. After winning his third World Title in 2024, Ryder is already well setup for 2025 at No. 3 in the World Standings thanks to a third place finish at the Brad Gjermundson Xtreme Broncs (North Dakota) and a win at the Wilderness Circuit Finals, where he made three straight rides of 86 points or better. Statler, on the other hand, won the Sandhills Stock Show and Rodeo for the second straight year and is No. 4 in the World. He is coming off a career-best eighth place finish in the PRCA World Standings.

 

  • Win the Brad Gjermundson Xtreme Broncs, set yourself up for 2025. That standalone bronc riding event that Ryder Wright took third in? The only cowboys ahead of him in the World Standings are the ones who split the win there. Kade Bruno is No. 1 with $36,507 and Dawson Hay is No. 2 with $35,814. Hay won the Average at that event with 265 on 3 while Bruno was 264.5 on 3, including a 92.5-point ride on Straight Moonshine in the Short Round.

 

  • Top-ranked steer wrestler Levi Rudd could be poised for a breakout year. The 32-year-old is No. 1 in the World by almost $6,000 with over $18,000 to his name. He finished outside the Top 50 in 2024 and his best career finish was No. 29 in 2018.

 

  • Sharin Hall has been the best barrel racer of the bunch so far at the National Western. Hall won both rounds in Bracket 3 and sits No. 1 overall in Round 1 with a 14.48-second run and No. 3 overall in Round 2. She also recently finished second at the Sandhills Stock Show and Rodeo.

 

  • Thanks to consistent riding since October, Rawley Johnson is the No. 1 bull rider in the World. Rawley Johnson has found consistent success throughout the 2025 season. In October, he secured wins at two rodeos, with both rides scoring 89 points or higher. November saw him claim two runner-up finishes, including one at the Wilderness Circuit Finals. In December, he earned over $5,000 at Wyoming’s New Year’s Eve Buck & Ball. Most recently, in January, he captured victory at the Cinch World’s Toughest in Des Moines, Iowa.

 

  • Veteran bareback riders Tanner Aus and Mason Clements are looking to re-establish themselves as NFR cowboys. Aus qualified for eight consecutive NFRs from 2016 to 2023, narrowly missing out in 2024 by finishing No. 16. Clements, a four-time NFR qualifier, ended 2024 ranked No. 26 after finishing No. 17 in both 2021 and 2022. Now in their 30s, the Vegas veterans are back in the Top 10 in 2025, with Aus ranked sixth and Clements seventh.

 

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