Young, competitive Wacey Schalla is the true definition of an All-Around cowboy. He is dominating the Resistol Rookie All-Around Standings at the ripe age of 18-years-old and the season has yet to end.
Schalla currently has $72,080 earned in the rookie all-around. He is No. 5 in rookie bareback riding, No. 3 in the bull riding, and of course is sitting at the top in No. 1 for the rookie all-around.
Being Wacey Schalla seems like a big deal. For him, well, he is just living a life he’s always dreamed of.
“Oh, I’ve dreamed of this my whole life. So, yeah. I wouldn’t change it for anything. I’m just living day by day, going everywhere. It’s great,” he said.
Just like any successful athlete, Schalla has had to work his way to the top. He credits a lot of his Pro Rodeo success to his days as a high school rodeo athlete.
“Yeah, I mean just with that, I knew I wanted to do it in the bull riding. But after I did good in the bareback riding and all that, i figured I might as well give the all-around a shot,” he said. “Yeah, from then on that’s when I decided I wanted to go with it in both events and so it dang sure was a confidence booster.”
When looking at Schalla’s 2024 highlights, the list is quite long. He has won the All-Around title at nine rodeos, claimed three bareback riding titles and five bull riding titles so far this year. He is sitting No. 19 in the bull riding, and No. 41 in the bareback riding in the PRCA World Standings.
When looking back to the beginning of the season, the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver, Colorado is where Schalla first entered in the PRCA bareback riding and decided that he was quite fond of the event.
“Yeah, like I mean Denver Colorado, that’s when I first entered the bareback riding and I didn’t get in the bull riding. I did pretty dang good and see that’s where I decided that the bareback riding I might as well stick with it and go with it,” he said.
Another stand-out moment for Schalla’s 2024 season was the Mandan Rodeo Days in North Dakota.
“Just not long ago in Mandan, I did good in the bull riding and bareback riding. So, yeah after those I was like well, I am in it now, so I might as well go out til the end,” he said.
While he has dominated the first half of his pro rodeo season, there are still plenty of bulls and bareback horses to be rode for the remainder of the season.
