Makenzie Mayes earns the 2025 Women’s Professional Rodeo Association Rookie of the Year Award.
The Road to Rookie
The Rookie of the Year title is coveted for many reasons. It’s an award an individual only has one shot at winning in their first year of professional rodeo. Many set out on a debut rodeo endeavor, but only a few will ever be honored as Rookie of the Year. This season, the 2025 race to the Rookie title was as close as ever with two standout athletes battling back and forth all year long. Ultimately, Makenzie Mayes walked away with the honor after a grueling season of 96 rodeos earning $83,911.69.
Mayes and her Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo champion and Women’s Rodeo World Championships qualifying mount, Chicado Moon made a splash in WRWC and World Champions Rodeo Alliance competition in 2024 gaining fans and momentum. As they entered the 2025 season and set out on the WPRA professional rodeo trail they’ve battled for each dollar. The season didn’t start out with Mayes at the top of the field, she had to earn that spot.
For the past several years, since the inaugural running of the Resistol Rookie Roundup in 2022 the WPRA Rookie of the Year title has almost exclusively belonged to the winner of the Rookie Roundup. The event, which invites the top 15 in the WPRA Resistol Rookie standings and offers up a lucrative payout has largely impacted the rookie race.
In the inaugural year Presley Smith took home the Rookie Roundup title and finished the 2022 WPRA season third in the WPRA Rookie of the Year standings. Since then, each following Resistol Rookie Roundup winner has also won the Rookie of the Year title: 2023 — Kalli McCall; 2024 — Oceane Veilleux.
In 2025, the tables turned once again and Mayes overcame the odds to battle through the ranks for the rookie title. Mayes overtook the No. 1 spot from Resistol Rookie Roundup champion Emma Kate Parr, of Greensboro, Alabama. Parr picked up $4,222 from the Rookie Roundup win, which put her in the driver’s seat in the Rookie standings early in the season. Both Parr and Mayes hit the rodeo road in hopes of claiming the coveted title.
As the final push of the 2025 pro rodeo season began both rookies were pushing for the top spot. As of August 29, only about $700 separated Mayes and Parr. However, by September 11, Mayes had pulled away from Parr in the standings putting more than $8,000 between them. Mayes had $71,682.63 and Parr had $63,565.49 in earnings.
The weekend of September 10-13 offered up more chances for the standings to change with the Pendleton Round-Up offering up more than $766,000 in total payout. Mayes finished fourth in the first round at Pendleton with a 28.88, worth $4,373, and finished sixth in the aggregate with 58.08 for another $2,691 for a total of $7,064.
As of September 16, Mayes held onto her No. 1 position in the Resistol Rookie standings with $80,882.83. Parr did not enter Pendleton, but did pick up fifth place at the West Texas Fair Rodeo in Abilene earning $1,559.
The WPRA regular season ended on September 30, and both Parr and Mayes kept hustling to the last rodeos of the season. Ultimately, Mayes closed out the season with $83,911.69 and the No. 1 position, while Parr finished second with $68,779.94 from 99 rodeos.
Rookie Horsepower
Mayes, 21, called upon her 7-year-old sorrel mare Chicado Moon aka “Rousey” and her 6-year-old gray mare Kita Rita aka“Rita” to capture the title. Both are by Guys Canyon Moon.
Chicado Moon, is a 2018 sorrel mare by Guys Canyon Moon and out of the Chicados Cash daughter Chicados Bully, was bred by Jolene Montgomery and has earned more than $115,000 in EquiStat reported lifetime earnings — all of which was earned with Mayes.
Kita Rita, is a 2019 gray mare by Guys Canyon Moon and out of Kita Thru Traffic, who’s by the First Down Dash son Dash Thru Traffic. Rita joined Mayes’ string in January from Mike and Kellie Sokol.
Season Highlights
Mayes had some big 2025 pro rodeo season highlights, which helped her claim the Rookie of the Year title.
- Finished second at the Resistol Rookie Roundup
- Won Nashville, Tennessee
- Won Kennewick, Washington
- Co-Champion at Walla Walla, Washington
- Finished sixth at the Pendleton Round-Up
2025 WPRA Resistol Rookie of the Year World Standings
Note: earnings are subject to WPRA audit. Visit wpra.com for more.
| Place | Name | Hometown | Money Won | Rodeos Attended |
| 1 | Makenzie Mayes (R) | Scroggins, TX | $83,911.69 | 96 |
| 2 | Emma Kate Parr (R) | Greensboro, AL | $68,779.94 | 99 |
| 3 | Makenna Shook (R) | Needville, TX | $51,019.21 | 77 |
| 4 | Taylor Cherry (R) | Surprise, AZ | $35,502.48 | 37 |
| 5 | Avery Ledesma (R) | San Luis Obispo, CA | $22,472.51 | 65 |
| 6 | Ruby Lightfoot (R) | Arlington Heights, CA | $19,700.94 | 100 |
| 7 | Brylee Banning (R) | Litchfield Park, AZ | $19,619.40 | 46 |
| 8 | Jordynn Knight (R) | Roosevelt, UT | $16,273.69 | 54 |
| 9 | Kaydi Anderson (R) | St James, MN | $15,158.95 | 76 |
| 10 | Brylee Wall (R) | Roosevelt, UT | $15,109.17 | 40 |
| 11 | Nikki Reynolds (R) | Ellsinore, MO | $14,536.72 | 47 |
| 12 | Jeannette Etchebarne (R) | Newberg, OR | $14,127.75 | 33 |
| 13 | Brittney Hawley (R) | Suprise, AZ | $13,866.04 | 28 |
| 14 | Keylee Zancanella (R) | Aurora, SD | $13,470.35 | 37 |
| 15 | KariAnn Cross (R) | Blackfoot, ID | $11,127.58 | 50 |
