Brody Dent Competed Against the Big Boys This Summer

At the Central Wyoming Fair and PRCA Rodeo in mid-June in Casper, Wyoming, the 18- year-old bareback rider from Bend, Oregon, proved he belonged. Dent finished fourth in the first round and seventh in the average to win his first checks on the pro rodeo circuit.

“It feels awesome,” he said at the time. “Now I’ve got some money to put in my rig. And competing against guys that I grew up watching pushes you to be your best.”

Dent has been at his best for a few years now. He won the first round of senior bareback at the YETI Junior National Finals Rodeo in 2022 to begin a three-year run at the Junior NFR in Las Vegas.

Since its humble beginnings in 2015, the Junior NFR has become a place to catch rodeo’s rising stars.

The connection came full circle in 2023 when former Junior NFR competitors Keenan Hayes (bareback) and Riley Webb (tie-down roping) won Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association world championships.

Webb won his second world title last year, when he was joined at the NFR by Hayes and former Junior NFR world champions Bradlee Miller (bareback) and Cash Robb (steer wrestling), both of whom were making their debuts at the Thomas & Mack Center. The 2024 NFR also included former Junior NFR competitors Wacey Schalla (bull riding), Weston Timberman (bareback) and John Douch (tie-down roping), among others. Other than Hayes, who is out this year with an injury, all the others are in position to make it back to Vegas this December.

In the coming years, don’t be surprised to see a lot more former Junior NFR champions and qualifiers competing under the bright lights at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Bull rider Hayden Welsh, saddle bronc rider Coleman Shalbetter and tie-down roper Tyler “Buck” Calhoun are already making lots of noise on the PRCA circuit. Welsh and Shalbetter lead the PRCA permit standings while Calhoun is atop the Resistol Rookie standings and is currently No. 17 in the world standings. Calhoun also won the College National Finals Rodeo title in June.

After winning the Junior NFR novice bull riding title in 2023, Welsh predicted he would be on this path.

“I’m going to pro rodeo now and this is just that last boost I needed,” Welsh said two years ago. “It’s just that finalized conversation of, ‘Man, I just put my whole childhood and everything I’ve built myself up to now at peace,’ and I’m ready to go ride with the big boys now.” Welsh has won more than $71,000 this season, which would put him No. 26 in the world standings. Competing against the “big boys,” the Gillette, Wyoming, cowboy pocketed nearly $10,000 by winning the CINCH World’s Toughest Rodeo in Charlottesville, Virginia, in May and also won a semifinal at Cheyenne Frontier Days along with top-five finishes at rodeos in Colorado, Texas, Montana and South Dakota.

Other former Junior NFR champs who have had success on the pro rodeo circuit this year include:

• Bareback riders Kooper Heimburg (No. 2 permit) and Tuker Carricato (No. 4 permit).

• Saddle bronc riders Gus Gaillard (No. 18 world) and Jase Stout (No. 16 permit).

• Bull rider Avery Mullins (No. 7 rookie).

• Steer wrestlers Jake Holmes (No. 4 rookie) and Jace Mayfield (No. 4 permit).

• Tie-down roper Brodey Clemons (No. 2 permit).

This year’s YETI Junior National Finals Rodeo is scheduled for Dec. 4-13 at the Wrangler Rodeo Arena outside the Las Vegas Convention Center. With more than 700 competitors expected to compete in nine events – bull riding, bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, tie-down roping, team roping, barrel racing, breakaway roping and pole bending – it’s once again a great chance to catch the sport’s future stars in action.

At the Central Wyoming Fair & PRCA Rodeo in July, fans got to see some former Junior NFR competitors in action. After the bareback riding on the rodeo’s opening night, Dent was behind the chutes taking off his gear when he looked around at his fellow competitors, which included former Junior NFR champions Mason Stuller, Weston Timberman and Colt Eck.

“It’s like a reunion,” Dent said.