A 16-year-old from Alvin, Texas, who never had a roper in the family until he became one, Ryler Griffin will back into the box at the Lazy E for the very first time this July sitting atop the 19 & Under World Championship Junior Rodeo (WCJR) standings with 19,662.5 points.
The 2026 Cinch WCJR runs July 8–11 at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma, with more than $145,000 in guaranteed added money on the line and $10,000 added in the Junior division tie-down alone. Griffin’s spot at No. 1 when the leaderboard froze June 14 earns him a direct seed into the semifinals—a head start for a calf roper who, by his own admission, is walking into Guthrie blind.
“No, ma’am, I’ve actually never roped at the Lazy E before,” Griffin said. “I’m not really sure what to expect, but I’m excited for it.”
Griffin’s picked up his roping addiction from a television.
“I actually do not come from a rodeo family,” Griffin said. “My parents never roped, they rode horses, but I’m the first calf roper in my family. One day I was watching the NFR and I just fell in love with it. I just wanted to calf rope.”
From there it was a matter of finding the right people. He started out with family friends, the Sohrt’s, roping for a while before landing with some of his biggest influences.
“I started roping with Justin Maass and he really just helped me improve my roping to where it is today,” Griffin said. “I’ve been living at Justin’s this summer. We rope every day, and that’s just how I’ve been preparing for the WCJR. We get to ride different horses every day and rope a bunch.”
The one he is counting on in Guthrie is a little sorrel named Baldwin, bought through Roping.com coach, Maass, about a year ago from Ace Reese.
“He’s just a real special horse, he’s done me good,” Griffin said. “He’s real easy to get off of. He runs me right up into the hole every single time, and he lets me get away with almost anything. He takes two extra steps and then just punches it, and lets me get great goes on the calves every time.”
For a first-timer, Griffin’s goal isn’t modest.
“One of my big goals is actually winning the WCJR,” Griffin said. “I feel like that would be a really cool thing to do and something most kids want to do. I’m definitely practicing a lot harder than I normally do here lately, getting ready for it.”
Aside from Guthrie, Griffin is keeping his summer close to home, competing at the amateur rodeos around the Houston area and chasing a spot at the CPRA finals—while a two-day-a-week schedule at Bay Area Homeschool Academy leaves him plenty of daylight to rope.