Here’s our “bubble report,” updated Monday, Sept. 21.
Mandan is final and the NFR cut tightened. LaTricia Duke holds the last spot at $116,618. Summer Kosel is No. 16 at $106,821, $9,797 back, after a tie for second at the North Dakota Roughrider Cup in Mandan, N.D., worth $9,905 moved her past Austyn Tobey.
That leaves Andrea Busby as the rider with the clearest run at Duke. She is No. 19 at $94,701, $21,917 out, and she is the only rider outside the top 15 holding a seat at the Cinch Playoffs Governor’s Cup in Sioux Falls, S.D., where one rider can take out $59,067 on the weekend of Sept. 25-27.
Updated Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. Standings are BarrelRacing.com projections; the Pendleton Round-Up and Mandan payouts are rebuilt off the 2026 WPRA rulebook and do not match ProRodeo.com, with the reasoning below and on our week 12 results and world standings page. Sioux Falls figures are the 2026 official payout. Playoff Series points are the WPRA board updated Sept. 15, 2026, which does not yet include Pendleton or Mandan.
Moeykens wins Mandan at 17.00
The North Dakota Roughrider Cup paid 12 places out of a $63,901 purse. Places and times per ProRodeo.com’s unofficial results; the dollars are ours, rebuilt on the 12-money ladder in WPRA rule 11.1.2.5 because Mandan’s ground rules set the barrel race at 12 places and ProRodeo posted it across 15.
1. Tayla Moeykens, 17.00 seconds, $12,780; 2. (tie) Summer Kosel and Lisa Lockhart, 17.12, $9,905 each; 4. Alyssa Gabrielson, 17.15, $7,668; 5. Hayle Gibson-Stillwell, 17.16, $6,390; 6. Michelle Alley, 17.21, $4,473; 7. (tie) Emily Beisel and Loralee Ward, 17.24, $2,876 each; 9. Megan McLeod-Sprague, 17.35, $2,237; 10. Tricia Aldridge, 17.37, $1,917; 11. Kathy Grimes, 17.38, $1,598; 12. Andrea Busby, 17.39, $1,278.
Hailey Kinsel, Emma Parr and Blake Molle ran 13th through 15th and are outside the money on a 12-place payout. Mandan paid 12 places in 2025 as well. The full sheet is on our Roughrider Cup daysheets and results page.
Duke holds No. 15 by $9,797
| No. | Rider | Entering the week | This week | Projected total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Kathy Grimes | $128,999 | $6,274 | $135,273 |
| 11 | Megan McLeod-Sprague | $123,676 | $11,239 | $134,915 |
| 12 | Katelyn Scott | $110,413 | $17,043 | $127,456 |
| 13 | Tricia Aldridge | $119,968 | $5,657 | $125,625 |
| 14 | Makenzie Mayes | $108,542 | $10,240 | $118,782 |
| 15 | LaTricia Duke | $116,618 | $0 | $116,618 |
| 16 | Summer Kosel | $96,916 | $9,905 | $106,821 |
| 17 | Austyn Tobey | $98,059 | $3,882 | $101,941 |
| 18 | Loralee Ward | $94,504 | $4,556 | $99,060 |
| 19 | Andrea Busby | $91,809 | $2,892 | $94,701 |
| 20 | Heidi Gunderson | $88,814 | $0 | $88,814 |
Duke ran Mandan and finished outside the 12 places, so she is No. 15 at $116,618, the figure she carried into the week. Kosel is No. 16 at $106,821 and Tobey No. 17 at $101,941. Ward is No. 18 at $99,060 after a share of seventh at Mandan worth $2,876, and Busby is No. 19 at $94,701.
Lisa Lockhart banked the most on the week at $17,134 and is No. 9 at $143,095, on a Pendleton long-round win and a share of second at Mandan. Katelyn Scott is next at $17,043 and holds No. 12 at $127,456. Kathy Grimes moved to No. 10 at $135,273 on $6,274, including $4,676 for winning the New Mexico State Fair and Rodeo.
Busby is $21,917 back and holds a Sioux Falls seat
Andrea Busby was 12th at Mandan for $1,278 and took a share of 14th at Albuquerque for $292. She is No. 19 at $94,701, $21,917 back of No. 15 Duke, a wider gap than Kosel, Tobey or Ward carry and the only one of the four with a Sioux Falls path.
On the Playoff Series board updated Sept. 15 she is No. 9 at 876.00. Taking the Puyallup four out, that projects her into the eight points seats at Sioux Falls. Kosel is No. 15 on that board and Duke No. 16.
What Sioux Falls pays in 2026
The Cinch Playoffs Governor’s Cup runs Sept. 25-27 on $166,666.66 added, limited to 12 riders, over two long rounds, a semifinal and a final. This is the 2026 official Sioux Falls barrel racing payout, $166,667 per event.
| Stage | Place | Money |
|---|---|---|
| Each long round, $31,333.50 | 1st | $12,533.40 |
| 2nd | $9,400.05 | |
| 3rd | $6,266.70 | |
| 4th | $3,133.35 | |
| Semifinal, $18,000 | 5th through 8th | $4,500 each |
| Finals, $86,000 | 1st | $34,000 |
| 2nd | $26,000 | |
| 3rd | $17,000 | |
| 4th | $9,000 |
The most one rider can take out of it is $59,067, off both long-round wins and the championship. In 2025 the most one rider took was $55,822.
What Busby needs at Sioux Falls
Her gap to Duke is $21,917. These are the 2026 checks against it, before anything Duke adds on the final weekend.
| What she does | Pays | Against $21,917 |
|---|---|---|
| Wins the finals | $34,000 | covers |
| Wins a long round, third in the finals | $29,533 | covers |
| Second in the finals | $26,000 | covers |
| Wins both long rounds | $25,067 | covers |
| Wins a long round, second in the other | $21,933 | covers |
| Wins a long round, fourth in the finals | $21,533 | $384 short |
| Third in the finals | $17,000 | $4,917 short |
| Fourth in the finals | $9,000 | $12,917 short |
| A semifinal check | $4,500 | $17,417 short |
Five outcomes cover it: the championship, second in the championship, both long-round wins, a long-round win plus second in the other, or a long-round win plus third or better in the final. A long-round win plus fourth in the final leaves her $384 short.
Mayes is No. 14 at $118,782
Makenzie Mayes held the last NFR spot on Sept. 14 at $108,542, without a check in two weeks. She was second in the Pendleton long round, fourth in the average and fourth in the short round for $10,005 on our corrected ladder, then added $235 at Othello, Wash. She is No. 14 at $118,782, $2,164 up on No. 15 Duke. On the Playoff Series board she is No. 6 at 1,036.39.
Pendleton pays 10 places, not 15
Our Pendleton figures are not the ones on ProRodeo.com. WPRA rule 11.1.2.14 caps a long go-round or an average at 10 places when a rodeo runs a short go, and ProRodeo paid 15 in both. The purse and the 45-10-45 split it posted are correct, and the finals are correct; the number of places is not.
Rebuilt on the 10-money ladder, Scott’s Pendleton week goes from $11,947 to $12,851, Mayes from $8,500 to $10,005, McLeod-Sprague from $8,701 to $9,002 and Caitlyn White from $7,061 to $8,266. Lisa Lockhart won the long round, was ninth in the average and finishes at $7,229 either way. Every rider whose check gets smaller under the corrected ladder is outside our top 70, and the correction does not move the cut.
Mandan’s ground rules set the barrel race at 12 places and ProRodeo posted the payout across 15, so we have rebuilt that one on the 12-money ladder in rule 11.1.2.5. Neither correction moves a rider’s position in our top 70. If the WPRA confirms ProRodeo’s figures on either rodeo, we will put them back and say so.
The Sioux Falls field is not posted yet
Four riders are in off Puyallup: Carlee Otero, Michelle Alley, Lisa Lockhart and Megan McLeod-Sprague. The other eight go to the top eight in the Playoff Series standings as of Sept. 21 who did not already qualify at Puyallup.
The WPRA board still carries the Sept. 15 stamp and does not include Pendleton or Mandan, both of which have now paid. On unofficial tiers of 150 for Pendleton and 112.5 for Mandan, the highest any rider outside the eight could have reached with a Mandan win is 889.63, and nobody outside the eight won it. Scott projects at 999.26 on her Pendleton average win, and Tricia Aldridge sits at 927.88 before her Mandan check, so both clear that ceiling. Busby at 876.00 does not, and only the win value is published at each tier, so the placings that could move her cannot be priced. We ran the full bubble math earlier this month.
Earlier: going into Mandan’s last performance
On Sunday afternoon, before the third performance, Duke held the last NFR spot at $116,618 and Tobey was No. 16 at $101,941, $14,677 back. Moeykens led Mandan at 17.00 through two performances, with Grimes fourth at 17.38, Busby fifth at 17.39 and Duke 12th at 17.53. Kosel’s tie for second then moved her past Tobey into No. 16. Tobey did not place at Mandan.
What is left
Sioux Falls runs Sept. 25-27 against San Bernardino, Calif.; Poway, Calif.; Stephenville, Texas; Mona, Utah; Tyler, Texas; and Bunnell, Fla. A win at San Bernardino paid $3,952 in 2025. Stephenville paid $2,801, Poway $2,352 and Mona $2,107. The season’s last approvals are at Cumberland, Maine, on Sept. 29 and Sept. 30.
Every placing and check lands on our week 12 results and world standings page as it is paid.