Only one week remains in the 2025 ProRodeo regular season, meaning team ropers on the bubble are taking every last opportunity they have to cash in for potential spots at this year’s NFR.

The North Dakota Roughrider Cup in Mandan highlighted the Sept. 17-21, weekend, with a mix of Top 15 guarantees and hopefuls cashing in major money. A handful of regular season rodeos also took place across the country, making the race to the NFR heat up in its final leg.

Clay Smith is essentially locked in for the 2025 NFR, but his young gun partner Nicky Northcott is inching closer each week. The Resistol Rookie of the Year frontrunner jumped to No. 12 in the world after winning second in Mandan for $8,491 apiece, thanks to a 4.8-second run. Northcott now has a $4,778.24 lead over 16th, but despite being in for Sioux Falls, he isn’t yet safe. Fellow young gun Denton Dunning sits No. 16 and is also unofficially qualified for Sioux Falls.

Tyler Tryan and Denton Dunning kept themselves in the NFR conversation after this weekend. The reigning Resistol Rookie Header of the Year and Dunning won $7,185 each in Mandan tying for third with a 4.9-second run. Tryan moved from No. 20 to No. 18 in the world standings, and Dunning jumped one spot to No. 16. Their success also likely secured them a spot in Sioux Falls as Mandan was the final rodeo on the PRCA Playoff Series tour. With only $5,982.07 separating Tryan from 15th, he is still alive in the battle. Dunning’s odds, however, are a little better as only $300 separates him and 15th now.

Cyle Denison and Lane Mitchell also took care of business in Mandan, picking up $5,225 a man for sixth to move them both to No. 11 in the world standings. Most importantly, however, as they were already inside the Top 15, the points earned in Mandan also unofficially secured them a spot in Sioux Falls this weekend. The weekend in the Badlands also gave them more cushion inside the Top 15 which is also vital in the last week. Denison now has a $10,517.61 lead over No. 16, and Mitchell has an $11,847.72 lead over 16th on the heel side.

Aaron Tsinigine might not have moved up over the weekend, but he also didn’t drop in the world standings. This year’s Reno Rodeo and Cheyenne Frontier Days champion kept hold of his spot at No. 15, now with $108,334.40 after pocketing $4,246 in Mandan. However, Tsinigine is not qualified for Sioux Falls. With less than $2,000 separating him from 16th–who just so happened to qualify for Sioux Falls, unofficially–nothing is set in stone yet.

That No. 16 header just so happens to be Luke Brown who has been fighting tooth and nail the last three weeks with his heeler Trey Yates, currently No. 15. Brown and Yates had a solid time at the Pendleton Round-Up last weekend, and they continued their success with a $3,266-a-man check in Mandan, plus $840 apiece in Omaha, Nebraska, at the Omaha River City Rodeo. While every check counts, what perhaps matters most is that their scrappy weeks have unofficially punched their tickets to Sioux Falls. With a small separation from No. 16 for both Brown and Yates (who is less than $500 ahead of Dunning at No. 16), Sioux Falls could be their golden ticket.

Like Brown and Yates, Brenten Hall and Kaden Profili have been cashing in weekly to climb in the standings. Hall now sits No. 17 with $103,835.67, and Profili is actually inside the Top 15 at No. 14 with $108,497.15. Hall and Profili didn’t pick up a check in Mandan, but they utilized the South over the weekend, winning $1,291 a man in Texas at the Amarillo Tri-State Fair And Rodeo and $1,499 apiece in Louisiana at the Springhill PRCA Rodeo. Hall is $4,498.73 behind No. 15, and Profili is $2,246.38 ahead of No. 16. Hall and Profili did not qualify for Sioux Falls, though.

2025 PRCA team roping world standings

As of Sept. 22

2025 PRCA Playoff Series team roping standings

As of Sept. 22