FORT WORTH, Texas – For the second time, Hope Thompson (Stephenville, Texas) claimed a Women’s Rodeo World Champion title. The Texas cowgirl won the Women’s Rodeo World Championship (WRWC) All-Around buckle Tuesday evening, earning a $20,000 bonus, in addition to her $5,000 heeler Challenger World Champion bonus.
Thompson earned her first title in 2020 after delivering the only qualified time in team roping with Rylie Smith (Whitsett, Texas). Thompson is now the richest athlete within the WCRA (World Champions Rodeo Alliance), with more than $200,000 in earnings.
On the spurs of Thompson’s 8.0-second run in team roping Tuesday night, she found herself in a points battle with 2020 All-Around cowgirl Jackie Crawford (Stephenville, Texas) for the $20,000 bonus. Before the performance, the ropers were separated by a near 1100 points.
For the second time in the inaugural WRWC in Fort Worth, Texas, Thompson and Smith ran the only clean qualified time in the challenger performance to lock in Thompson’s all-around title.
At the end of the semi-finals round Tuesday evening, the $5,000 World Champion bonus was paid out to athletes in all disciplines from both the PRO and Challenger Leaderboards. The award was based on total points earned from the combined leaderboards between October 4, 2021 – April 17, 2022.
The athletes who earned the $5,000 bonus in each discipline and division are:
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Team Roping
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Discipline
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Name
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PRO Header
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Bev Robbins
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PRO Heeler
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Annette Stahl
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Challenger Header
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Rylie Smith
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Challenger Heeler
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Hope Thompson
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Barrel Racing
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Discipline
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Name
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PRO Barrel Racer
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Rainey Skelton
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Challenger Barrel Racer
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Jana Guthrie
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Breakaway Roping
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Discipline
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Name
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PRO Breakaway Roper
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Martha Angelone
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Challenger Breakaway Roper
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Rylie Edens
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Tuesday night was also the semi-final round for the 2022 Women’s Rodeo World Championship event title, which will award $60,000 discipline champion bonuses Wednesday evening.
As the action continued for barrel racing, three-time PRCA World Champion Hailey Kinsel (Cotulla, Texas) was last to run and delivered a 13.667-second performance, besting 2021 WRWC Barrel Racing Champion Rainey Skelton (Llano, Texas), who earned a 13.748-second time in the PRO division.
Malee Jones (Wymore, Nebraska) took home the fastest time in the Challenger division after surging to the top of the leaderboard with a 13.495-second time.
The breakaway division came down to Martha Angelone (Stephenville, Texas), who was the last competitor with the chance to run faster than Britta Strain’s (Bryan, Texas) 2.92-second time. Angelone took on the challenge and trumped Stain’s time after earning a 2.20-second run in the PRO division.
In the challenger division, Keeley Senn (Coal City, Illinois) championed with a 2.22-second time, edging out Hanna Hundsdorfer’s (Exeter, California) 2.30-second effort.
In the Team Roping PRO division, Kenna Francis (Las Vegas, Nevada) and Whitney Desalvo (Wilmar, Arkansas) landed the top time of the night with a 6.09-second run, topping Kayelen Helton (Stephenville, Texas) and Lorraine Moreno (Mathis, Texas) who turned in a 6.54-second run.
The Top 10 athletes in each discipline will advance to Wednesday’s Showdown Round, where the Top 3 will then advance to the Triple Crown of Rodeo Round to compete for the title of event champion and $60,000 bonus.
For a complete list of advancing athletes, results and all-around points, click here.
Tickets for the Triple Crown of Rodeo Round are still available and start at $20. They can be purchased at the Cowtown Coliseum Box Office or online at cowtowncoliseum.com.
