In Fort Worth’s Cowtown Coliseum on Saturday evening, 12 youth rodeo athletes from around the country were crowned champions at the $55,000 WCRA CEAT Division Youth (DY) Showcase. Each Champion took home a minimum of $2,000.
The 2023-24 WCRA Division Youth (DY) Series annually features four CEAT Specialty WCRA Division Youth Showcase events. The Cowtown event capped off the 2023 edition, with the next stop in Guthrie, Oklahoma, during the WCRA Stampede at The E. Mollie Jo Compton (Cleveland, Oklahoma) set the bar high for the pole-bending event, starting a day of lightning-fast runs. She found herself in a close competition with Rylie Edens (Hillsboro, Texas). Both ladies expertly navigated the course, but Compton’s time of 20.863 pushed her to the top of the leaderboard and made her the event champion. Edens came in second place, trailing Compton by a little less than two seconds, with a time of 22.366.
Kashton Ford (Sturgis, South Dakota) delivered the only 80.0+ performance in the Bareback riding. The WCJR event champion found himself earning the highest-marked ride of the night, outscoring Payton Blackmon’s (Andrews, Texas) and Triston Flinn’s (Hico, Texas) 73.0 scores. Sawyer Bell (Stamps, Arkansas) was unstoppable in steer wrestling. The No. 7 ranked athlete on the WCRA DY Leaderboard ran the only time under eight seconds, distancing himself from WCJR champion (Jasper, Texas) 8.09-second time. A fiercely contested race in the goat tying began as 2023 WCJR (World Championship Junor Rodeo) All-Around Cowgirl Amy Ohrt (Victoria, Texas) and Tawni Kaye Shelton (Gonzales, Texas) tied for first place, both landing a remarkable 6.24-second time. Ohrt also captured the breakaway roping title, stopping the clock at 2.27, defeating Chloe Schoenberg’s 2.57 seconds. Jacob Stansbury (Santa Fe, Texas) stood out in the team roping. Bridger Ketcham (Yeso, New Mexico) and Stansbury delivered a 6.36-second run to win the top spot as one of only three team roping pairs to deliver a qualified run. Stansbury also earned the No. 2 spot after logging an 8.09 with Zane Starns at the heels. As the Saturday matinee continued, Colt Bass (Statesville, North Carolina) and Jase Stout (Decatur, Texas) were the only riders who reached the required 8.0-seconds. Bass captured the event title and the accompanying $2,000 payday after an 81.5 score. 2023 WCRA DY World Champion Kyan Wilhite (Clovis, New Mexico) was the undeniable star of the tie-down roping after earning another WCRA under his belt courtesy of his 9.02 time. Wilhite came ahead of Bryce Ehlinger (Manvel, Texas) who ran a 10.39. As the event continued, a hotly contested race in the barrel racing began. Savannah Sanders (Willis Point, Texas) and Laynee Massey (Willis Point, Texas) finished the event edging each other’s times. Sanders navigated the course with ease sitting atop, BUGGING ME BABY, and ran the fastest time of the day with a 13.526-second time, edging out Massey’s 13.728-second time. Jesus Villa Jr. was the only bull rider to earn a qualified time. The Texas athlete went home with $2,000, courtesy of his 72-point score. All results can be found HERE.
