The biggest story in rodeo right now is undoubtedly Houston, but a swing through what they would call SEC country in college football is not to be overlooked.

Kade Bruno took back the No. 1 spot in the PRCA Saddle Bronc Riding World Standings as it continues to change hands between him and Dawson Hay. Hay won his Super Series in Houston on Thursday to take the lead from Bruno, but Bruno immediately snatched the top spot back by riding Hot and Hairy for 87 points to win $4,300 at the Cinch World’s Toughest in Columbia, South Carolina. Bruno has $73,057 to Hay’s $71,603 and either one would find themselves on a record-shattering pace if they were to finish first or second in Houston.

Bareback rider Waylon Bourgeois made $8,500 in Super Series 1 in Houston, the most of any athlete so far. Bourgeois has gotten as close as anybody to sweeping a Super Series through two of them with just one blemish (if you could call it that), a split of first place in Round 1. He made three rides of 85 points or better and jumped from No. 8 to No. 5 in the World Standings.

Bull rider TJ Gray is up to No. 3 in the World Standings after winning the Cinch World’s Toughest in South Carolina and advancing in Houston. Gray finished first in the regular season last year and is within $7,000 of No. 1 Stetson Wright this year thanks to a week in which he won $8,668 for an 87.5-point ride in Columbia and an 85.5-point ride in Houston. He was victorious for a second time at a Cinch World’s Toughest event this season.

19-year-old team roping pair Tyler Tryan/Denton Dunning won Super Series 1 despite being the only team without a two NFR qualifiers. The underdogs in the truest sense of the word won $4,500 and won Round 2 to advance in Houston among Tanner Tomlinson/Travis Graves, Erich Rogers/Kollin VonAhn, and Clint Summers/Paul Eaves. Those other three pairs all feature someone with at least a decade of NFR experience.

Bareback rider Jayco Roper has won a rodeo each of the last two weekends he has competed. Roper has kept pace with the rest of the Top 10 in the World Standings by winning La Fiesta De Los Vaqueros (Arizona) and the Arcadia All-Florida Championship Rodeo. Those two wins, along with a third place finish in Columbia over the weekend, give him $15,749 in his last three rodeos.

Lisa Lockhart won $8,000 to win Super Series 1 in Houston for second straight year. Lockhart did herself even better than last year when she won $6,500. She won two rounds in her Super Series in 2025 and has the fastest time of the rodeo so far, 14.35.

Saddle bronc rider Zeke Thurston won two of three rounds and advanced in Houston with $7,500. Thurston won this rodeo a decade ago at age 21 and since then has won four World Titles. He made three straight rides of at least 84 points and won Round 2 with 88.5 on Mike Honcho.

Shayla Hall won over $6,000 in Super Series 1 while no other breakaway roper has more than $5,000 so far. The breakaway roping has been chaotic in Houston, but Hall has held steady with runs of 3.9 and 3.6 seconds to win Rounds 1 and 3 in her Super Series. The next closest cowgirl to her is Taylor Munsell, who finished second in Super Series 1 with $4,250. The winner of Super Series 2, Sawyer Gilbert, made $3,250.

Two-time defending RodeoHouston bareback riding champion Leighton Berry moved on to the Semifinals. Berry split first in Super Series 2 with Cole Frank with $5,000, $3,000 of which came from a Round 1 win. Berry is looking to join Kaycee Feild as the only bareback rider to ever win Houston three straight times.

A well-decorated quartet advanced out of Super Series 1 in the steer wrestling. Objectively, this was the most loaded group of Semifinalists from any event. Tyler Waguespack is a five-time World Champion, JD Struxness is the 2024 World Champion, Kyle Irwin won the 2023 NFR Average, and Dalton Massey has set the regular season earnings record each of the last two seasons.

Bull rider Ernie Courson Jr. picked up two wins in Florida over the weekend. ErnBob was the champion in Arcadia with 87.5 points and his hometown of Okeechobee with 83. Since February. 23, he has won four rodeos in Florida. He is No. 20 in the World.