Breakout Team Roping Header Eyes Rookie of the Year Title and First NFR Run

The race for the Resistol Rookie of the Year is one of the most heated competitions in the rodeo season. These athletes are working through their first season in ProRodeo, and now, team roping header rookie Ketch Kelton is looking to clinch the rookie title and earn his first qualification to the National Finals Rodeo (NFR).

New Team Roping Blood

At No. 13 in the world standings, Kelton also finds himself at the top of the rookie leaderboard with $106,751 earned so far this season. While there are only two weeks left in the regular season, Kelton is only $2,000 away from being pushed out of the top 15, so the cowboy has his work cut out for him in the coming days if he wants to head to Las Vegas come December.

As for the race for rookie of the year, Kelton is ahead of Jaxon Hill in the No. 2 spot by more than $40,000, which nearly solidifies Kelton as the team roping header rookie of the year. The award won’t be announced until the NFR, but things are looking bright for this newly coveted professional cowboy.

His breakout season has been quite impressive as he works to secure his world standings place in the next few days. His summer run is what pushed him forward on the leaderboard, as he kicked the summer season off with his first win at the Eastern Oregon Livestock Show in June.

It was here that Kelton locked in on the season, pulling in a $4,355 check for his run of 4.3-seconds. He kept that momentum rolling as just days later, a fourth place finish at the Klamath River Round Up earned him another $2,611 for a run of 4.5 seconds.

Kelton’s Cowboy Christmas run is where things really took off as he pulled in a massive round two win at the Greeley Stampede in Colorado for $4,442. He kept pushing himself forward, as a second-place finish during round one of the St. Paul Rodeo earned him another $3,438.

Huge Summer For The Rookie

The cowboy didn’t stop there in July, as he pulled in his biggest check of the season at the Cody Stampede Rodeo. A second-place finish with a run of 4.2 seconds scored Kelton a check for $7,106. And again just days later, he pocketed $6,272 thanks to another second-place finish at the Oakley Independence Day Rodeo.

Kelton went on to close out this blazing summer run with two more back-to-back checks at the Killdeer Mountain Roundup PRCA Rodeo ($3,027) and the Basin City Freedom Rodeo ($4,017). He hasn’t stopped there either as he’s won more big checks during this late-season push as he works to secure his place in the top 15.

Kelton’s most recent win was at the War Bonnet Round Up at the end of August (4.1-second run for $4,179), and he is still riding high after more and more checks have been written with his name on them. He’s earned cash at some of the most iconic late-season rodeos, including the Horse Heaven Roundup Rodeo (4.7-second run for $2,455), the Golden Spike Rodeo ($2,504), and the Kitsap Stampede ($4,292).

The rookie even pocketed $4,233 at the iconic Puyallup Rodeo thanks to some impressive performances there, and he continues his run at the Pendleton Round-Up, which ends later this week.

With time running out in the regular season, this rookie cowboy has his work cut out for him if he wants not only to earn the Resistol Rookie of the Year title, but also to be the only team roping header in his class to take a trip to the Thomas & Mack Arena.

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