Rodeo Daily

Mowry and Yates To Be Honored at Utah Governor State of Sport Banquet

The top-earning male and female rodeo athletes of a select few Utah rodeos will once again be honored with the Top Hand Award at the Utah Governor State of Sport Banquet.
Teal Stoll|
Kassie Mowry
Kassie Mowry | Nathan Meyer for Rodeo On SI

Two of rodeo's finest, Kassie Mowry and Marty Yates, will be honored as Pioneer Week Top Hands on April 4, 2025. Salt Lake City is set to host the annual Governor State of Sport Banquet at the Delta Center. Not only will they be recognized for their outstanding efforts in 2024, they will each be awarded $15,000.

Beginning in 2023, three major professional rodeos banded together to add a little more cash to rodeo athletes pockets. The Utah Days of '47 Rodeo, the Spanish Fork Fiesta Days Rodeo, and the Ogden Pioneer Days are all held within 100 miles of each other. Combined, they payout nearly $2 million and occur within the same week - Pioneer Week.

The cherry on top is the bonus money - $15,000 to the highest earning female and male athlete at these three rodeos. In 2023, barrel racer Jordon Briggs took top honors, alongside team ropers Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp.

In 2024, Kassie Mowry won $37,172 at these three rodeos and Marty Yates earned $29,786. In the barrel racing and tie-down roping, these two not only added substantially to the earnings that took them to the National Finals Rodeo, they get to add a little more to it.

Mowry won the Utah Days of '47 Rodeo, as well as the Ogden Pioneer Days, and finished seventh in Salt Lake City. This gave her a huge boost in the season standings, ultimately helping her punch her ticket to the NFR, where she finished as the World Champion.

Yates finished very similarly to Mowry, winning Ogden, co-champion in Spanish Fork, and seventh in Salt Lake City. Again, these earnings played a big role in his 2024 season and helped him qualify for his tenth NFR.

Utah loves the sport of rodeo and encourages sports of all levels. In 2023, the Governor's State of Sport Awards began as a way to highlight sports from high school to professional.

From the Utah Days of '47 Rodeo website:

“Utah has always supported the Western lifestyle that harkens back to the pioneer heritage and history,” stated Tommy Joe Lucia, Executive Director of Utah Days of ’47 Rodeo. “We are honored to continue to keep this front and center in today’s society in collaboration with our fellow Pioneer Week rodeos. To be able to recognize these rodeo athletes alongside Olympic and professional athletes is a true honor.”

Congratulations to Mowry and Yates and we will be watching to see who wins this great award in 2025.

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Teal Stoll
TEAL STOLL

Teal Stoll is a lifelong Wyomingite from a working ranch family of several generations. Both sides of her family have deep roots in rodeo, as contestants and stock contractors. Teal grew up horseback and actively competes in rodeos and barrel races. She has degrees in both business and accounting, which she uses operating her own bookkeeping service. Teal enjoys spending time with her horses, training colts, and maintaining her string of athletes. When she isn’t at the barn, she can be found reading, doing yoga, or on her paddle board at the lake. Teal lives with her fiancee and a plethora of animals, because she can’t say no to a displaced critter with a sad story. When she isn’t on the road running barrels, she spends her time helping with day to day operations on the family ranch.

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