Trigger Hargrove, 18, has high hopes for his rookie year in professional rodeo. The nephew of two-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo header Spencer Mitchell—Spank’s big sister, Ashley, is Trigger’s mom, and Brent Hargrove is his dad—ropes both ends at a high level. But he plans to heel at the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association rodeos in 2025.
Q: Is there a lot of team roping action where you grew up?
A: I grew up in Elk City, then moved to Gracemore, Oklahoma (population: 274) when I was 10 or 12. It’s not like team roping in Texas, which I call the wolf den. It’s a whole different ballgame in Oklahoma. The same crowd of people pretty much trades money here. You take their money this weekend, then they take your money next weekend. Down in Texas, there are enough different players that it’s a different setting every single weekend.
Q: Do you see yourself spending more time in Texas moving forward?
A: I don’t get free as much as I’d like to, because I work a lot. I’m a day worker and take care of a bunch of cattle—momma cows, calves, stockers. Any kind of cattle you can have that’ll hit the market, I take care of them.
Q: Who taught you to rope, and how old were you when you got started?
A: I was kind of born with a rope in my hand. I didn’t have toys. I had ropes and dummies. Everybody I came from roped, including both of my parents, so it just kind of fell into place. Uncle Spank played into it a lot, too. I think I turned my first steer when I was 5 or 6, and the train just kept rolling from there. A lot of people have had a lot to do with my roping.
Q: Do you consider yourself a header or a heeler?
A: I’ve headed quite a lot along the way, including 2024. I heeled at last year’s BFI, then headed the rest of the year. But the plan is to heel at the rodeos my rookie year in 2025.
Q: What do you consider the highlight of your young roping career so far?
A: Definitely going 1-2-3 with Spencer in the #15.5 roping at the 2022 BFI when I was 15. I heeled for Spank, and we won it. He heeled for Trevor Kirchenschlager and won second. I heeled for Casey Hicks for third. That was one of the coolest moments of my life. It was quite the God-willing thing, because the day before that, I only caught one steer by two feet all day long out of six or seven turned for me in the junior roping. To heel every steer by two feet the very next day—I didn’t see that coming.
Q: You’re starting the 2025 rodeo season on your PRCA permit. Has it felt like a long wait to go pro?
A: That was one of the longest waits of my life, for sure. I was roping in the open ropings when I was 15, and had to wait another three years until they’d let me go down the road with them. Gabe (Williams; Speed and Jennifer’s son, who’s heading now) and I have some places in our plans. I’m going to take the heeler standpoint, and let him tell me where we’re going.
Q: How’d you two team up, and why do your roping styles work so well together?
A: Gabe and I have always known each other and been buds when we’d see each other at the jackpots and amateur rodeos. There for a while, we were at the same place about every weekend. He started heading, we roped a few places and just said, “Why not? Let’s try it.”
Q: What are you riding, how long have you ridden him and why is he “the one” for you?
A: I have a 7-year-old streak-faced sorrel, Divas In Bama, who’s an own son of Bama Cat. I call him “Bam,” and I’ll ride him a bunch this year. I got him when he was pretty green, and helped finish him out. He kind of goes with the way I rope, and is built around my style.
Q: Which ropers did you grow up looking up to most?
A: Broc Cresta was my hero. I got to grow up watching Spank and him go to the rodeos, and his heeling videos are the best videos in the world for me to watch. I’ve taken a lot from Broc’s style, and like to say I see my style in his. I like the way Broc never panicked, and I’d like to be like that one day.
Q: Which Top-15 types are you paying the closest attention to now?
A: All the best guys today are so good with the tip of their rope. All of them are great. Out of all of them, Levi Lord is incredible with his rope, in my eyes. His style is amazing.
Q: Are you more of a go-fast guy or an average roper?
A: I’m definitely a go-fast guy, but I’d like to be an average roper, too.
Q: Do you have weaknesses you’re working on extra hard?
A: Yes, that would be my positioning. I would like to be more square and a little faster. I look at Paul Eaves and Levi Lord on that. They never mess their position up. They’re in perfect position almost every single time.
Q: Which other young ropers do you see being ones to watch out on the pro rodeo trail in 2025?
A: Definitely Denton (Dunning) and Nicky (Northcott). Tyler Tryan and Denton will be a great team. Not sure who Nicky will be heeling for yet, but look out for them, too.
Q: How pumped are you to be a pro rodeo rookie, and which rodeo are you looking forward to roping at most?
A: I’m extremely excited for my rookie year. Salinas and Cheyenne are a tie on the rodeos I’m looking forward to most, just because the conditions at those two are as full contact as it gets.
Q: Which of the team roping big dogs do you look up to most, and why?
A: Jade Corkill is the one I look up to most, because he’s proven time and time again why they call him The GOAT. That guy is a machine, for sure.
—TRJ—
