BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN @PRORODEOBRETT
Shad Mayfield made it clear early in 2024 that his goal was to reclaim the regular season earnings record from Riley Webb, who had broken Mayfield’s mark in 2023. Despite battling hip injuries throughout the year, he accomplished exactly that. His $286,347 is about $5,000 ahead of what Webb finished the regular season with a year ago.
Mayfield, the 2020 World Champion, will enter his sixth NFR ranked No. 1 in the World, following a No. 2 regular season finish in 2023 and a No. 1 ranking in 2022.
Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, $26,500
If you’re aiming to kick off your season right and set a new earnings record, winning the first Texas Swing Rodeo is a solid way to start. After advancing from Bracket 7 with just $2,500, Mayfield posted a time of 7.5 seconds in the Semifinals and 7.8 seconds in the Finals.
With the win on Feb. 3, he claimed the No. 1 spot in the World and never relinquished it for the rest of the season. When he arrives in Las Vegas, he will have spent 44 consecutive weeks at No. 1.
San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, $26,750
Just three weeks after winning Fort Worth, Mayfield also claimed the title at the next stop of the Texas Swing in San Antonio, and looked even better doing it.
He made five straight runs of 8 flat or faster, including a 7.1 in Round 1 and 7.2 in the Finals, which he won by sixth tenths of a second.
At 23-years-old, Mayfield has already won four of the five Texas Swing Rodeos.
“San Antone has been huge for me, I’ve won a lot of money every year here and it’s my kind of setup for roping,” he said. “I tell people all the time this is my favorite rodeo, and I look forward to coming here every year.”
Red Bluff Round-Up, $9,040
Mayfield has never won a California rodeo in his career, but he came close in April when he finished second at the Red Bluff Round-Up, just half a second behind Riley Webb.
He put up a valiant effort, closing the rodeo with an 8.0-second run to win the Finals.
The Average payment of $4,275 made up almost half of his money at the rodeo.
Guymon Pioneer Days, $13,911
Mayfield used a 7.1 in Round 1 and a 7.3 in Round 3, two of the fastest three runs of the entire rodeo, to power him to a tie for first in the Average at 23.9 seconds on three with fellow World Champion Marcos Costa.
The pair was just one tenth ahead of Cooper Martin.
Mayfield won almost $5,000 more than any other cowboy at the entire rodeo.
Reno Rodeo, $18,009
Mayfield entered 100 Rodeos in 100 Days with a lead of over $40,000 in the World Standings and showed why at the first big rodeo of the Summer Run.
He was 25.2 seconds on three to win the Average by two full seconds over fellow 2024 NFR qualifiers Shane Hanchey and Cole Clemons.
Mayfield finished the rodeo with a 7.5 to win Round 2 and a 7.6 to win the Finals by nine-tenths of a second.
Cheyenne Frontier Days, $16,400
It was three up, three down for Mayfield at The Dad as he won every round he competed in to win the title.
It was also another dominant Finals for him, too. He was 9.8 on Championship Sunday to win by 2.7 seconds over the next closest cowboy.
“This whole year has been God, I want to push other kids going through something to just go out there and work hard, and you can get through anything, I feel like that’s my story this year,” he said afterward.
This season marked Mayfield’s second career Finals appearance in Cheyenne and first since his rookie season in 2019.
Puyallup Cinch Playoffs, $17,744
After a bit of a sluggish finish to August by his own standards, Mayfield proved he was still the man to beat in the tie-down roping in 2024 when 24 of the best in the World got together for the first leg of the Cinch Playoffs.
Mayfield got by with a 10.8 in the Semifinals to setup a 7.4-second run in the Finals to win $13,000. Mayfield has made the Finals each of the last two years in Puyallup.
Governor’s Cup, $39,625
In the Governor’s Cup’s two-year history, Mayfield is its only tie-down roping champion and has done so by making seven runs of 7.4 seconds or faster in eight attempts there over two years.
In 2024, he started with a 9 flat to open the rodeo but responded with a 7.2, 7.1 and 6.9 to finish out the season and officially break the regular season earnings record.
“I told ‘em I was going (to break the record) in Fort Worth and they didn’t believe me, but here we are,” Mayfield said. “I’m really thankful, but we got a long way to go.”
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