Morgan Bagnell keeps padding her lead at the top of the Resistol Rookie race, but the chase behind her looks nothing like it did heading into the summer run.
Through July 14, Bagnell sits first with $57,035.00, a cushion of $25,756.79 over a brand-new runner-up. When we last checked the board on May 13, that margin was $20,429.54 and the name in second was Emma Smith.
Now it belongs to Catherine Asmussen. The Laredo, TX rookie sat fourth in mid-May with $9,635.58 and has since been the hottest earner in the entire rookie field, adding $21,642.63 to reach $31,278.21. A good chunk of that came at Reno Rodeo, where she placed second in the second round and ran back through the short round for $7,691 across three head.. That is a bigger summer haul than anyone posted, Bagnell included, and it carried Asmussen past both Chery Pinkston and Smith into second.
Smith, the Pleasanton, TX rancher we profiled last month, did not fall off so much as get passed. She added $8,548.48 to climb to $24,820.21, but that was only enough to slip one place to third. She now trails Asmussen by $6,458.00 with most of the summer still to run.
Bagnell’s own numbers still read like a frontrunner’s. The Heath, TX sophomore and Oklahoma State student added $20,333.73 over the same stretch, and even in the one window where another out-earned her, no one meaningfully closed the gap at the top.
We caught up with Bagnell earlier this season on the horses and mentorship behind the run.
Resistol Rookie standings, top 15 (through July 14)
| Rank | Rider | Hometown | Earnings |
| 1 | Morgan Bagnell | Heath, TX | $57,035.00 |
| 2 | Catherine Asmussen | Laredo, TX | $31,278.21 |
| 3 | Emma Smith | Pleasanton, TX | $24,820.21 |
| 4 | Jaylan Neatherlin | Brock, TX | $16,608.54 |
| 5 | Brooke Krolczyk | Cypress, TX | $12,825.25 |
| 6 | Parker Asam | Murrieta, CA | $12,511.01 |
| 7 | Sonya Madsen | Honeyville, UT | $12,445.38 |
| 8 | Chery Pinkston | Kaufman, TX | $11,015.67 |
| 9 | Alona James | Ada, OK | $9,030.46 |
| 10 | Hazlee McKenzie | Muldrow, OK | $8,672.63 |
| 11 | Ashley Dixon | Silverdale, WA | $7,759.60 |
| 12 | Savannah Shumpert | Mooreville, MS | $7,595.89 |
| 13 | Mylee Modlin | Blanchard, OK | $7,062.70 |
| 14 | Lexus Hommer | Fort Pierce, FL | $6,969.47 |
| 15 | Cara Calhoun | Brandon, MS | $5,089.45 |
Full WPRA Resistol Rookie field extends to 87 cardholders.
Several first-year cardholders who spent June splitting time between the college trail and the pro circuit are still parked inside the top 15, led by Mylee Modlin in 13th at $7,062.70. She was among the CNFR rookies we flagged in June, and that group has plenty of runway left before the rookie title is settled this fall.