In 2023, a second Roping Director was added to the WPRA Board of Directors to support breakaway rodeo approval growth and breakaway member representation. Today, the WPRA Board of Directors is pleased to announce the addition of a third Roping Director into the upcoming 2026 election process.

The unseasonably mild temperatures of rodeo week in western Kansas turned dramatically in a matter of minutes Sunday, Aug. 3. As Dodge City Roundup Rodeo prepared for the championship round with 100 contestants ready to battle for the titles in their respective events, a storm moved in from the north-northwest carrying heavy rain and winds that reached nearly 90 mph. Officials tested the ground and deemed it unsafe.

There could not have been a better time of the year for 2023 WPRA Breakaway Roping World Champion Shelby Boisjoli-Meged to regain her confidence in her roping.

With a payout of over $750,000, the Reno Rodeo is a must stop on any contestant’s schedule trying to qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo at season’s end. Celebrating 106 years this year, the rodeo has traditionally marked the real start of the summer rodeo run, so not only is the payout important but so is the momentum.

This past weekend Jackie Crawford finished fourth in the breakaway roping at Liberty Hill, Texas, and while not a No. 1 finish it will be a run she will always remember as it propelled her over the $1 million mark in career earnings in the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association. The 2.0 second run earned her $2,153 to bring her career earnings to $1,001,149. She becomes the first roper in WPRA history to cross this milestone. All others that have crossed this mark have been barrel racers. Crawford has collected all of her earnings with a rope – breakaway, team roping and tie-down roping.

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO – The Women’s Professional Rodeo Association is pleased to announce Caroline Lukens as the new Chief of Operations and Board Executive Secretary.

By the time she arrived in the southeastern New Mexico community of Lovington to compete, Helen Nowosad had just driven nearly 4,500 miles in less than three weeks. It didn’t show. She made the fastest run of the rodeo on that Friday, Aug. 8, evening to win the barrel racing title at the Lea County Fair and Rodeo.

No one has won more money in the history of the WPRA than Lisa Lockhart of Oelrichs, S.D., and she added over $17,300 to her earnings after winning the Daddy of ‘em All in Cheyenne in 2025.

WPRA barrel racer Megan McLeod-Sprague has been in the sport a “hot-minute,” but this is the first year she has landed atop the barrel racing leaderboard for most money won over the Fourth of July, a week known in rodeo as Cowboy Christmas.

There’s something about the desert climate that is attractive to Shayna Wimberly. She was raised in Arizona – a graduate of Wickenburg High School – and moved to Big Spring, Texas, two years ago to attend Howard College on a rodeo scholarship. The dry, arid region is not only appealing, but it also offers opportunities.

Things are coming together quite well for breakaway roper Aspen Miller. She finished the 2024 WPRA campaign 25th in the ProRodeo World Standings, which not only helped build confidence in the young cowgirl but also helped create momentum heading into this season. She won San Antonio and picked up some decent checks at two other major Texas rodeos in Austin and Houston.

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO – If you have ever met a WPRA member you know their most prized possession is their horse/horses and now the WPRA has partnered with Hart Trailer as a safe and reliable way to transport those equine athletes. Hart Trailer is now the Official Trailer of the WPRA and is the presenting sponsor of the highly sought after WPRA ProRodeo Barrel Racing World Standings.