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Believe it or not rodeo fans, we’re halfway through the 2024-2025 PRCA season already. March 31^st marks six months left to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo. 

Coming off the heels of Professional Rodeo’s highest paying regular season rodeo, RODEOHOUSTON, just West in Texas’ capital city of Austin, more big paychecks were signed and handed out as Rodeo Austin came to an end. 

About two hours North of Austin is Waxahachie, Texas where the Ellis County Livestock Show & Rodeo, a suburb on the outskirts of Dallas, drew some of Professional Rodeo’s biggest and best contestants because of its proximity to Austin. 

Rodeo Austin | Austin, Texas – Total Payout: $726,174*Includes Barrel Racing and Breakaway

Bareback: Tanner Aus, 91 points on Diamond G Rodeo’s, Good Girl

Of the 24 Bareback riders to qualify for the Semifinal round at Rodeo Austin, Minnesota’s 8x NFR qualifier Tanner Aus was 24^th. He went from last to first, winning the semis with an 87-point ride on Dakota Rodeo’s, Wild N Out. Aus would continue to climb, scoring the highest-marked ride of the 2025 rodeo, a 91 on Diamond G Rodeo’s, Good Girl for the win and a $10,000 paycheck.

Aus is currently 8^th in the 2025 PRCA Bareback World Standings. 

Team Roping: Marcus Theriot/Wyatt Cox, 13.9 seconds on three head

Early last week, Missouri Header Marcus Theriot’s horse Chevy went down in Oklahoma’s Lazy E Arena at the 48^th annual Bob Feist Invitational, a prestigious Team Roping competition that awards almost $3 million. While Chevy continues to be monitored closely by veterinarians in Oklahoma, Theriot and his partner Wyatt Cox, a Heeler out of California, had also made the short-go in Austin. Despite the uncertainty surrounding Chevy’s condition, Theriot and Cox made it back to Austin to take second in the Finals, stopping the clock just two-tenths of a second short of first place in 5.1 seconds. In total, the pair would be 13.9 seconds on three head, demonstrating true cowboy grit while earning over $8,200 each.

Theriot is currently 7^th in the 2025 PRCA Team Roping Header World Standings, Cox is 10^th in the Heeler World Standings.

Tie Down Roping: Tuf Cooper, 27.1 seconds on three head

Tuf Cooper is a 4x World Champion and 16x NFR qualifier. The Texas native has done well in his home state so far this year, winning sizeable paychecks in San Antonio and Houston. In Austin, Cooper tied for third place in the first round with fellow World Champion and 15x NFR qualifier Shane Hanchey. The pair were only one-tenth of a second behind reigning World Champion Riley Webb who took second with an 8.0 flat, and two-tenths behind first place’s Cash Hooper. Cooper would win the Finals, finishing his run in 8.5 seconds for a total, Average race winning 27.1 seconds on three head and over $11,650 in earnings from the rodeo.

Cooper is currently 6^th in the 2025 PRCA Tie Down World Standings.

Bull Riding: Wacey Schalla, 91.5 points on Beutler & Son Rodeo’s, Gangster Walk

NFR bull rider Wacey Schalla was one of only two cowboys to cover all three at Rodeo Austin. The other? None other than 8x World Champion and 9x NFR qualifier Stetson Wright. Schalla and Wright are neck-and-neck in two World Standings races: Wright currently leads the All-Around with Schalla about $20,000 behind while Schalla leads the Bull Riding, Wright behind by about $25,000. Schalla won the first round in Austin, going 90.5 on Beutler & Son Rodeo’s, Dump Truck. He won again in the Semifinals with another 90.5, this time on Andrews Rodeo’s, A18. Wright was just behind him, scoring a 90-point ride. In the Finals, Schalla would best Wright just one more time, covering Beutler & Son Rodeo’s, Gangster Walk for 91.5. Wright, the only other contestant to cover a bull in the final round, was 89. For his three rides, Schalla walked away with the win and over $19,000 in earnings. Schalla is currently leading the 2025 PRCA Bull Riding World Standings. 

Cooper is currently 6^th in the 2025 PRCA Tie Down World Standings.

Barrel Racing: Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi, 15.10 seconds

Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi led Rodeo Austin from the get-go. The 3x World Champion and 17x NFR qualifier is a Texas cowgirl and now, a 2x Rodeo Austin Champion. Tonozzi won the first round, running a 15.08 for a $7,000 paycheck. She’d be 15.22 in the Semifinals, finishing just three-hundredths of a second behind Andrea Busby, a fellow Texan who won the Average at her very first National Finals Rodeo last year in 2024. Tonozzi took her second Rodeo Austin win with a 15.10-second time in the Finals, totaling her earnings to over $18,350.
Tonozzi is currently 2^nd in the 2025 WPRA Barrel Racing World Standings. 

Breakaway: Rylee George, 1.7 seconds

The Breakaway was quick at Rodeo Austin; contestants had to be two seconds or faster to be in the money in round number one. NFBR qualifier Rylee George of California finished the first round in a four-way tie for eighth, each roper with a time of two-seconds flat. Kansas’ Addie Weil won the round with the fastest time of 2025’s Rodeo Austin, 1.6 seconds. George would be 2.1 for fourth place in the Semifinals, qualifying her for the Final round where she won with a 1.7, her best time of the rodeo yet, earning her over $12,000.

George is currently 6^th in the 2025 WPRA Breakaway World Standings.  

Ellis County Livestock Show & Rodeo | Waxahachie, Texas – Total Payout: $104,707

Bareback

Texas’ Bradlee Miller is currently leading the 2025 PRCA Bareback World Standings by roughly $35,000. The NFR qualifier’s lead is due in part to a $30,000 paycheck from taking second-place in RODEOHOUSTON’s Championship Shootout Round and winning the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo. Miller now adds another Texas win to his roster, earning a near $2,400 paycheck for his 88-point ride on Championship Pro Rodeo’s, Ranch & Crow Int.

Miller is currently leading the 2025 PRCA Bareback World Standings.

Team Roping

7x NFR Header Dustin Egusquiza and partner 4x NFR Heeler Levi Lord continue their Texas success with a win at Ellis County. The pair won San Antonio earlier this year. Eguisquiza and Lord were almost a full second faster than the next team, capturing the win in 3.4 seconds for almost $2,700 in earnings each.

Egusquiza is currently 3^rd in the 2025 PRCA Team Roping Header World Standings, Lord is 3^rd in the 2025 Heeler World Standings.

Bull Riding

Maverick Potter got to ride to victory in front of a hometown crowd. The NFR qualifier is from Waxahachie but had yet to capture his local PRCA rodeo’s title in the six years since he became a card-carrying member. That all changed when Potter climbed aboard Stockyards ProRodeo’s, Hard Rock and rode for 87 points, and although a winning check for almost $2,000 is sweet, winning to the cheers of your hometown audience is that much sweeter.

Potter is currently 10^th in the 2025 PRCA Bull Riding World Standings.

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Check back next week and each week thereafter for all the highlights on your favorite contestants as they work their way down the 2025 rodeo road.