For many PRCA athletes, a single weekend at the circuit finals can reshape an entire season.
“Having the chance to go to Colorado Springs and the NFR Open, and rope for that kind of money, changes things,” said L.J. Yeahquo, the 2025 PRCA Prairie Circuit year-end and average champion team roping heeler. “It looks like I’ll be putting the tires to the road this year.”
With significant payouts and a coveted berth to the NFR Open in Colorado Springs, PRCA circuit finals, including the Prairie Circuit, offer athletes opportunities to elevate their careers and rewrite their season plans.
Just ask recent Prairie Circuit team roping aggregate champions Jhett Trenary and L.J. Yeahquo.
The duo captured both go-round buckles, the aggregate title, and the year-end championship for Yeahquo, earning just over $10,000 apiece during the weekend. The victory came at the rescheduled Prairie Circuit Finals, originally canceled in November 2025 due to the EHV-1 outbreak.
Rewinding to the start of the 2025 PRCA season, Trenary and Yeahquo began the year roping together before parting ways midseason, each finding success with different partners.
Late in the year, circumstances brought them back together.
Yeahquo’s primary circuit finals partner, Gage Williams, was sidelined by injury as the season concluded. At the same time, Trenary narrowly missed qualifying for the circuit finals, falling just $100 short. When Williams was forced to withdraw, Trenary received the call to fill the 12th and final spot — reuniting the former partners for the Prairie Circuit Finals.
The reunion paid off immediately.
Trenary and Yeahquo won the first round with a 4.5-second run and followed with a second-round victory at 4.9 seconds, securing the aggregate title and the largest paycheck of the weekend.
Trenary, a Colorado native who now resides in Texas, reflected on the unlikely path to victory.
“We’re really fortunate to win both rounds and the average,” Trenary said. “At this level, it’s rare to have a weekend like that. To go from being one out, to the finals being canceled and rescheduled, to us winning — it was a whirlwind and such a blessing.”
Yeahquo, an Oklahoma resident, echoed the sentiment.
“I was really blown away and excited to win the year-end as well,” he said. “It was great to pick it back up with Jhett.”
Both athletes, who honed their skills through collegiate and professional ranks, are chasing their lifelong goal of qualifying for the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, and hope the momentum carries into the 2026 season.
With the early-season earnings boost, Yeahquo said his plans have already shifted.
“I didn’t really plan on rodeoing full time this year,” he said. “I was going to focus on my business and just circuit rodeo, but winning this much early kind of changes things.”
Trenary, who credits much of his mental and physical approach to rodeo to his NFR-qualifying father, hopes to build on his winter success through the spring and summer.
“I’ve never started a year this well,” Trenary said. “I know it’s still a long road to my ultimate goal, but it’s a great start. I just have to keep my head down and keep working.”
Though they will compete with different partners throughout the spring, Trenary and Yeahquo will reunite once again at the NFR Open, aiming to continue their circuit finals success.
“Our circuit is great — there’s so much to be won,” Yeahquo said. “It really makes a guy want to buy his card or permit and try to qualify for the NFR Open.”