The Texas Swing gave athletes plenty of opportunities to separate themselves from the field, and a handful did just that. Looking at the leaders across all events, their earnings range from over $124,000 down to $68,000.
Here is a look at each event’s leader as we near the Summer Run.
Bareback Riding: Leighton Berry, $89,560
Leighton Berry leads the way in Bareback Riding with nearly $90,000 earned this year. His current lead is just over $10,000 over Coop Cooke who has totaled $78,110 this season.
Berry made his big move in mid-March thanks to a win at RodeoHouston where he was 91.5 points in the finals on Calgary Stampede’s Agent Lynx which earned him $50,000.
Following his win in Houston, Berry went to Rodeo Austin and posted an 86.5-point ride. Berry’s great run to the top of the standings wasn’t done there. He headed to Clovis where he took home the win on C5 Rodeo’s, Virgil. The win in Clovis was worth another $10,000 and how he took the top spot back from Coop Cooke.
Saddle Bronc Riding: Damian Brennan, $124,230
No other cowboy has had the success Damian Brennan has had this year. He has earned the most of any athlete across all events with over $124,000 earned already this season.
Brennan, who is coming off a career-best fifth-place finish in 2023, is now in the No. 1 spot by nearly $50,000. Brennan has won five rodeos this year, including RodeoHouston and the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.
Fort Worth was his first rodeo of the year, which he won with a 91.5-point ride in the Finals. On the way to the Finals, Brennan posted three scores over 89 points to get the win.
Moving to Houston, Brennan posted back-to-back 90-point rides for the win. In the Semis he was 90 points and in the Finals he would go for 91 points on R.Watson’s Ed Bishop.
Bull Riding: Creek Young, $108,292
Creek Young worked his way to the top of the standings thanks to a win at RodeoHouston, which earned him nearly half of his season earnings. Young rode just one of his first three bulls in Houston, but took advantage in the Semis with an 82.5-point ride that locked in his spot in the Finals.
In the Finals, he was marked 87 points to get the win and earn the biggest payday of his career at $50,000. Throughout the Texas Swing, Young was 12-for-17 overall.
Steer Wrestling: Dalton Massey, $68,137
Dalton Massey has a tight lead in the standings at less than $3,000. Massey spent the majority of last season in the No. 1 spot and is back after a big Texas Swing. Massey was the fastest Bulldogger in the Finals in Fort Worth to earn a nice payday earlier in the season.
Since then he cashed over $6,000 in Clark County after finishing second in the Average. He would also pick up a Round win and finish second in the Average at the Clovis Rodeo, which made him another $14,000.
Team Roping Headers: Dustin Egusquiza, $70,234
Dustin Egusquiza has the smallest lead of any No. 1 athlete at under $100 over J.C. Yeahquo. Egusquiza was No. 3 in the World Standings last week, but a big showing at the Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo propelled him into the No. 1 spot. In total, Egusquiza and his partner Levi Lord earned over $5,000 at the rodeo.
Egusquiza and Lord also won the Angelina Benefit Rodeo (Texas) and won two rounds in San Angelo. Combined, those two events paid him $14,693. In March, the pair won the Finals and the Average in Austin.
Team Roping Heelers: Buddy Hawkins, $74,716
Buddy Hawkins holds a small $4,000 lead over Levi Lord and has RodeoHouston to thank. Hawkins posted five runs at RodeoHouston under seven seconds, including a 4.5-second run in his third go and a 4.8-second run in the Finals to get the win and the $50,000 check that goes along with it.
Tie-Down Roping: Shad Mayfield, $137,922
Shad started off the season on a torrid pace, winning the first two Texas Swing Rodeos of the season in Fort Worth and San Antonio. Mayfield won over $30,000 between the two rodeos and posted six times under 8 seconds between the two.
Mayfield added to his earnings by taking home the average at the Guymon Pioneer Days where he was 23.9 seconds in the Average. In total, Mayfield earned just under $14,000 in Guymon.
Barrel Racing: Wenda Johnson, $72,599
Wenda Johnson jumped to the top of the WPRA Barrel Racing World Standings thanks to several big wins this season. Her most recent came in Clovis where he took the win and over $12,750 along with it.
Johnson also had a second-place finish at the Clark County Fair and Rodeo which made her $6,700. Her big win this season came at the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo where she was crowned Champion which earned her over $11,700.