Today Is the Day: 2024 National Finals Breakaway Roping Kicks Off

The moment many have been waiting for is here. The Women's Professional Rodeo Association Top 15 breakaway ropers will be showing off their skills at the Southpoint Hotel and Casino.

Shelby Meged / Hillary Maybery for Rodeo on SI

This is the culmination of a year's worth of work. The dreams are coming true for 15 ladies of the Women's Professional Rodeo Association. For some, it is another notch in their belt of a long list of accomplishments. For others, this is absolutely a dream come true making their first trip to Las Vegas as a competitor in the top 15.

Many of these ladies have just come off of competing in Scottsdale, Ariz. at the Kimes Million Dollar Breakaway. This was another opportunity to make dreams come true and for many, they did. Now, it's on to World Championship goals.

There have only been five titles awarded to the ladies of the breakaway roping while being in conjunction with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. The WPRA has long been awarding World Championships in the breakaway, but the ladies were never included in PRCA sanctioned rodeos. In 2020, the National Finals Breakaway Roping became a reality.

The prior years World Champions are:

2020 - Jackie Crawford
2021 - Sawyer Gilbert
2022 - Martha Angelone
2023 - Shelby Boisjoli-Meged

The 2024 World Champion will begin to take shape this afternoon, as the ladies will run the first five head of calves on their way to ten total.

Coming in at the top position is the reigning World Champion Shelby Meged. She regained that position at the last regular season rodeo the CINCH Playoffs Governor's Cup. Meged has been on a rough road lately facing injuries to her horses and a personal unplanned surgery. This champion has taken it all in stride and looks to have returned to her fine form. She was one of only three ladies that roped all 10 calves at the Kimes Million Dollar Breakaway. She will be hard to beat if she gets kicked off right in the first five rounds.

By no means does she have the Championship sowed up yet and there are several gunning to take that title from her.

Josie Conner, who will be riding the AQHA Horse of the Year, Stylish Drifter, better known as 'Dutch', is a strong roper who can be incredibly fast while also staying in the average.

Then there's D-Low. Who can leave out D-Low when you talk about fast? Well, the answer to that queston is no one that follows breakaway. Danielle Lowman is lethal when she gets on a roll. It is not uncommon for her to have several runs in a row under the two-second mark.

The veteran 23-time World Champion, Jackie Crawford, will certainly have something to say about who the champion is at the end of the two days. She comes with an arsenal of horses and experience behind her, while also being driven by the young guns. She has often risen to the occasion and has proven time and time again that pressure won't affect her. She is the 2024 Rodeo Houston champion and she's looking to add another title.

The calves will be big and strong this year and the ladies already know what they are up against there. This may play into some hands and out of others, but only time will tell there. It has been reported that the calves will average around 400 pounds, so this will be a change to what the ladies saw last year. Bigger calves change the angles and certainly will change the speed of the roping. These calves have plenty of rodeo experience and should break hard and run to the end of the pen with purpose.

If history holds true, the contractor and the breakway director will have sorted the set of 60 or so calves into three pens which will be alternated throughout the roping.

It's time. Today is the day. The ladies are ready and the fans are gathering. Half of the action will go down at the Southpoint this afternoon. No matter the result, these ladies should walk in and out of that building with their heads held high knowing that they have accomplished something many will not.

Stay tuned to Rodeo on SI for all the coverage and stories revolving around the best breakaway ropers in the country.

Here we go!