WPRA Breakaway Standings: Crawford on Top but Cowgirls Are Gaining
Coming into what is known in the rodeo world as "Cowboy Christmas," or to the rest of the world, the "Fourth of July," the world standings are worthly of examining.
Winning Rodeo Houston and having a $50,000 bonus added to your winnings makes for a good cushion coming out of the winter series rodeos. The Stephenville, Texas cowgirl, Jackie Crawford, who won Rodeo Houston, has enjoyed the number one spot all winter. With $83,314 won, she is nearly guaranteed a spot at the National Finals Breakaway Roping in Las Vegas, Nev. come December.
The "Texas Queen" has been chipping away at the distance to the top though. Danielle Lowman who truly had an outstanding winter rodeo season, has accummulated $67,336 during the 2024 year and sits at number two in the world standings.
Taylor Munsell from Alva, Okla. rounds out the top three currently with $61,906 in winnings.
With all of the money available in the coming months, and especially over the nearing holiday, no one's position is safe. There can, and likely will be, major changes in the standings soon.
Certainly, no one is safe from reigning World Champion Shelby Boisjoli-Meged who is ranked number four. She has only been to 16 rodeos which is half the number Crawford has entered. Meged has deposited nearly $50,000 for her efforts in those minimal entries giving her one of the highest average winnings per entry of all of the top 15.
Lowman has made the most of her entries with only 20 rodeos on the books and averaging nearly $3,400 in winnings per rodeo.
Looking toward the bottom of the coveted top 15 spots, let's take a look at who is on the bubble.
Hali Williams holds down rank of 15 currently where she has amassed $28,764 so far. Williams, the daughter of the great team roping header, Speed Williams, is coming off an injury from late last year when a horse took a misstep getting out of the trailer and landed on her.
Sitting in the dreaded number 16 spot right now is TiAda Gray from Portales, New Mexico. She is just a little less than $800 from cracking the top 15 which is literally just one check from one rodeo.
Addie Weil from Commerce, Texas is number 17 with $27,484 won from roping necks. Given that from number 16 to number 20 in the World Standings is a difference of less than $800, the breakaway roping is anyone's game right now.
All eyes will be on the fastest cowgirls on the dirt during the Cowboy Christmas run that starts next week.
Cowboys and cowgirls will log thousands of miles and win many thousands of dollars over the coming 10 day streak.
Watch for all the World Standings and Cowboy Christmas updates here.
LAURA MOTLEY LAMBERT
Laura Lambert resides in Wiggins, Colo. With her husband, Ricky and two sons, Brayden and Boedy. She attended the University of Northern Colorado while studying economics. She is an accomplished rodeo athlete and barrel horse trainer. Over the years, Laura has been active in journalism in a variety of roles. While continuing to cover western sports and country music, she is currently enjoying expanding her reach into multiple sports including MLB, NFL, PGA and LPGA. You can reach her at lauralambertmedia@gmail.com