➲ Dylan Hancock leads the Resistol Rookie Tie-Down race, with $53,317.91 in season earnings. He is $1,011 ahead of Cash Enderli and $6,000 ahead of Joel Braden Harris.
➲ Hancock also leads the Rookie All-Around race, $9,000 ahead of Chet Weitz.
➲ Brayden Roe and Chet Weitz are are trailing but within reach, with plenty of big-money rodeos left on the schedule.

In one of the tightest races in recent memory, three Texas ropers have traded the lead in the Resistol Rookie of the Year race in the last month alone. Almost to a man, they are all focused on the biggest goal of all—a trip to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (NFR)—and hope the Rookie title becomes the perfect icing on top.

After Joel Braden Harris took the lead from Cash Enderli following a solid Fourth of July, Enderli bounced back with winnings at the famed Calgary Stampede. As July ended, those two remained No. 1 and No. 2 but Dylan Hancock continued to stalk from third place.

With a huge opening weekend in August, Hancock was able to take the lead for the first time this summer. His lead is $1,011 over Enderli with Harris just $6,000 back.

Eight weeks remain in the regular season in this slugfest. Will the Rookie champ be decided when the season ends or will the battle rage on into the Wrangler NFR?

Here’s how it looks now:

#1 Resistol Rookie: Dylan Hancock

Hancock has quite an ace in the hole this year. He’s hauling with last year’s Rookie of the Year and also the current World No. 1 Riley Webb.

“It’s awesome,” Hancock, 19, said of hauling with the man who seemingly can’t be beat thus far in 2023. “We talk before every calf and get a game plan.”

“He’s just great and does all the entering and planning . . . he’s got it going on for sure,” he laughed.

The logistics of a ProRodeo summer run can be complicated. Hancock has been happy to have help as he’s navigating his first season on the road.

“I entered myself last year, just going to the circuit rodeos,” he noted. He actually made the Texas Circuit Finals on his permit in 2022, winning fourth in the average. “But that’s nothing close to planning for getting to different states, booking plane tickets, lining up car rides. A lot goes into it.”

“I’m thankful for Riley for all of that,” he continued. “I don’t know what I’d do if I was trying to do all of this on my own.”

That crazy schedule was in full swing during the first week of August, when Hancock and Webb started in Sidney, Iowa, then traveled across Kansas for Abilene, Phillipsburg and Dodge City before heading on to Castle Rock, Colorado. A flight to Utah for the rodeo in Heber City ended the weekend.

“I got the last hole in Sidney and made a good run; I was just late,” Hancock noted. Then with a chuckle, added, “I hit my calf in the butt at Abilene—it was pretty ugly.”

Luckily, the bad streak didn’t last long as Hancock rolled one up in 8.2 the next day in Phillipsburg, good enough to win second.

A broken barrier in Castle Rock kept him from the money but the weekend ended with a bang with a win in Heber City after a smooth run of 8.3 seconds.

“We flew over to Heber and mounted out on one of Riley’s good horses,” he said. “We both rode him and I won first and he was fourth.”

When the calculations were done, Hancock had collected $9,325 for the week and $21,279 in the last month. The earnings not only put him first in the Rookie race for the tie-down roping, they also helped him take the lead in the Rookie All-Around race, in front of second-ranked Chet Weitz by $9,000.

In addition to calf roping, Hancock has entered steer roping, team roping and steer wrestling this year. His most recent All-Around effort came in Salt Lake where he and Webb advanced from the qualifying rounds in the team roping to the progressive round.

“We walked up somewhere the day before the performances in Salt Lake, figured we’d get a little practice in,” he joked. “We borrowed horses, ropes and gloves.”

Hancock isn’t ruling out more All-Around attempts, but notes that calf-roping remains the priority.

“We may enter more at the end of the year,” he said. “When we get the main goal accomplished.”

The main goal? The Wrangler NFR, of course.

“That’s the main goal but the Rookie deal comes right behind it,” Hancock said.

The Rookie race has been a good one to watch all season and fun for those living it, too.

“We’re all good buddies,” Hancock said. Harris also hails from San Angelo, Hancock’s hometown. In fact, seven of the top 10 rookies are Texans. “We’ve all grown up together, going to the junior ropings together.”

Hancock has enjoyed his rookie year, noting that roping in the winter building rodeos was a highlight.

“I’ve never roped in front of crowds that big, that loud,” he said. “It was a cool experience.”

During the summer, runs in St. Paul, Oregon, and at Casper, Wyoming, where he finished second, stand out, along with the big win in Heber City.

With two good horses—Earl, a bay gelding he picked up just before Denver in January, along with his yellow mare, Foxy—Hancock is ready for a busy late summer and fall.

He starts his sophomore season at Cisco College soon and will hit the big Northwest run as well.

“I’m doing it all online,” the business major said of school. “That’s the only way to work it all in. I just can’t get behind!”

There will be plenty of driving and flying during the next week as Hancock competes in Logan (Utah), Lovington (New Mex.) and Hermiston (Ore.) with the famed Caldwell Nite Rodeo looming just behind that.

“Hopefully, we’ll have another good week,” Hancock said. “Finish it off. I’m going to do my best to get to that yellow arena.”

#2 Resistol Rookie: Cash Enderli

Enderli is refusing to simply sit tight. The Liberty, Texas, cowboy banked $15,500 in Calgary in mid-July to re-take the lead from Harris and added to that checks in Eagle, Colorado, and Spanish Fork, Utah.

Enderli started August with a win in Sterling, Colorado, worth $1,118, keeping him just about $1,000 behind Hancock.

#3 Resistol Rookie: Joel Braden Harris

Since taking the lead in the Rookie race in early July, Harris has cooled off some, though he’s still won more than $8,000 in the last month thanks to placings in Utah at Salt Lake City, Ogden and Heber City.

Harris has won $46,174 this year, just about $7,200 behind Hancock.

#4 Resistol Rookie: Brayden Roe

The lone non-Texan in the top five, Wendell, Idaho’s Brayden Roe has done well during a month of rodeos close to home. He earned $10,844 since the Fourth of July with his biggest checks coming from a fourth-place average finish in Spanish Fork and a fifth in Idaho Falls.

Roe is a longshot at $35,487 in season earnings but there are plenty of checks to be cashed in the next two months.

#5 Resistol Rookie: Chet Weitz

Weitz is competing in two events this summer and is in the battle with Hancock for the All-Around Rookie title. After missing much of the spring after undergoing shoulder surgery, Weitz continues to pick up checks and remains a dark horse in the calf-roping race.

The London, Texas, roper won $5,043 in Dodge City and Phillipsburg during the first week of August to remain in the conversation a while longer.

The Race Continues . . .

Though the top competitors have begun to distance themselves from the pack, it’s worth remembering competitors like Carsyn Sunvision, who collected $15,949 since the Fourth of July, could still make a run to the top given the number of high-paying rodeos left on the ProRodeo schedule.

Top 10 Resistol Rookie Standings as of August 7, 2023

Thanks to support from Rattler Ropes, CalfRoping.com is your go-to source for Resistol Rookie coverage, the Top 15 race, PRCA Circuit updates and more.