Hold on, Folks. If you think that Vegas in December is all about bull riding and rodeo – think again!
The world of team roping has been quietly growing a giant. Yes, Team Roping. World Series Team Roping (WSTR), to be exact. The WSTR had its beginnings in 2006 and is the brainchild of Denny Gentry, who also created and then sold, a numbered team roping system, the USTRC. When Denny thinks, he thinks big. And when Denny plans, he plans to be bigger. In the last ten years, WSTR events has awarded a whopping $54 million dollars to their Finale contestants. In the span of the 2015 season, the World Series Team Roping events awarded $34 million dollars in purses to contestants vying to attend the Vegas Finale. The WSTR Finale is now considered to be the second largest paying equestrian event in the world ($10.5 million)behind the Breeder’s Cup World Championships. In fact, the WSTR Finale has surpassed the payoff of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo for the last three years; awarding $10,535,000 in cold, hard CASH and another $250,000 in prizes – and it all has happened right in plain sight. In December. In Vegas. At the South Point Arena, since 2006.
The 2016 season is a culmination of over 100,000 team members competing at over 100 WSTR Qualifiers nationwide, to get to 3,000 teams that will rope for over a $10 Million Dollar Payout. There are going to be 4 divisions that will pay over $7 Million each and one division that should pay over $2 Million.
Each season welcomes firsts, and new records. 2015 introduced the first back-to-back champion in the same division – Eric Randle, of Moody, Texas; who won the 2014 #10 Division as a Heeler, and then returned in 2015 to win the same division as a Header. Also in 2015: Ralph Carter, of Calera, Oklahoma, split $259,000 in the #9 Finale, setting the record as the oldest WSTR Champion, at 80 years young!
Division | Total Purse | Champions | Division Prize Money |
#15 | $920,000 | Jacob Dagenhart, Statesville, NC – Header/Zack Mabry, Piedmont, AL – Heeler | $132,000 |
#13 | $1,560,000 | Michael Goodman, Canton, TX – Header/Scott Adrian, Kaufman, TX – Heeler | $248,000 |
#12 | $1,864,000 | Will O’Quinn, San Antonio, TX – Header/Latigo Petersen, Lipan, TX – Heeler | $320,000 |
#11 | $1,886,000 | Wallace Greer, Pollack, LA – Header/Rance Gantt, Athens, LA – Heeler | $325,000 |
#10 | $2,040,000 | Eric Randle, Moody, TX – Header/Zane Edmondson, Cimarron, KS – Heeler | $350,000 |
#9 | $1,604,000 | Ralph Carter, Calera, OK – Header/Shawn Lyday, Calera, OK – Heeler | $259,000 |
#8 | $395,000 | Michael Nash, Marshall, TX – Header/Bobby Leflett, Bossier City, LA | $70,600 |
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