The 2025 batch of Resistol Rookie of the Year contenders made their presence known over Cowboy Christmas in the team roping.
Cashing in across the biggest rodeos of the Fourth-of-July run, many rookies banked five-figure paychecks from coast to coast, heating up the race for Resistol Rookie of the Year heading into the second half of the season.
2025 Resistol Rookie Header of the Year contenders
James Arviso: $22,099
James Arviso sure didn’t rope like a rookie over his Fourth-of-July run. The Arizona header won $22,099 with the reigning Resistol Rookie Heeler of the Year Logan Moore. Arviso and Moore won $2,703 a man for fourth place in the first round of the Greeley Stampede with a 5.0. They won another $955 apiece for third in the finals with a 5.4, putting them sixth in the aggregate with a 21.9 on three for $2,317 a man.
Arviso won $641 out of the Oakley Independence Day Rodeo, as well as $2,811 for sixth at the Livingston Roundup Rodeo with a 4.6. Arviso won another $4,796 for second at the Mandan Rodeo Days with a 4.4-second run. His Cowboy Christmas rounded out in a big way with the World’s Oldest Rodeo win in Prescott, Arizona, for $4,726 with a 12.1 on two. He also pocketed $3,150 for the Round 1 win.
Riley Kittle: $4,409
Riley Kittle won $4,409 over his Cowboy Christmas. Kittle’s biggest check came out of the St. Paul Rodeo for $3,097 with a 4.4-second run. He also pocketed $1,312 with a 4.9 in Livingston.
Wawa Ben: $7,073
Wawa Ben’s Cowboy Christmas run pushed him deeper into the Resistol Rookie Header of the Year conversation, winning $7,073. Ben won $274 in the first round of Prescott, as well as $1,177 out of the Cody Stampede with a 4.9. His largest check came from winning Livingston with a 4.2-second run for $5,622.
2025 Resistol Rookie Heeler of the Year contenders
Nicky Northcott: $12,554
Nicky Northcott continues to widen his lead in the Resistol Rookie Heeler of the Year race, raking in $12,554 over the Fourth run. Northcott started strong at the Ponoka Stampede, winning $193 in the first round and $2,986 for third in Round 2 with a 5.2. He and two-time World Champ Clay Smith won $2,312 a man in the aggregate as well.
Northcott rounded out Cowboy Christmas winning second in Cody with a 4.0-second run for $7,063.
Bryce Graves: $12,220
Mississippi standout Bryce Graves climbed the Resistol Rookie heeling standings with a $12,220 Fourth run. Graves’ biggest hit came in Cody where he won third with a 4.1 for $5,977. He pocketed $1,149 out of the Basin City Freedom Rodeo with a 5.5-second run. In St. Paul, Graves picked up third in Round 2 with a 4.4 for $3,097, and $599 in the average.
Jaydon Warner: $10,822
Jaydon Warner’s Cowboy Christmas saw a $10,822 week to enter him in the Resistol Rookie heeling race. Warner picked up $2,138 in Oakley, as well as $1,377 out of the Western Stampede in West Jordan, Utah, for a 4.9-second run. Another 4.9-second run pocketed him $2,911 from Basin City. Warner closed out the Fourth of July with $699 in Round 1 in St. Paul with a 4.8, as well as third in the average with a 10.6 for $5,095.
