Yoder rodeo cowgirl Hadley Thompson, 18, could make history this weekend as the first person to earn $2 million with one throw of her rope.
Her unprecedented opportunity in the home stadium of the Texas Rangers on Friday and Saturday is thanks to the annual American Rodeo.
It began in 2014 as a novel concept in professional sports: invite any athlete in America to advance through a qualifying system to play against the pros for just one weekend.
A win pays $100,000, but if the winner is also an underdog who beats the best in the world? That’s worth a $1 million bonus.
No underdogs came out on top at last year’s American Rodeo, so the bonus rolled over to $2 million for 2026, and the reigning National High School Finals Rodeo girls’ breakaway roping and all-around champion from Wyoming.
She’s one of the “underdogs” who will rope against the best in the world, including Taylor Munsell, the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association breakaway roper; and Josie Conner, the reigning American Rodeo Breakaway Champion.
What Would You Do With $2 Million?
What could an 18-year-old do with $2 million? Thompson told Cowboy State Daily that it’s been hard for her not to think about that.
“I don’t think a single person going to The American hasn’t thought about it,” said Thompson, who will attend Southwest Texas Junior College online this fall. “It’s incredible.”
Thompson is no stranger to pressure.
This spring, she got into the breakaway event at the American via a last-chance qualifier in Las Vegas, where she roped her calf in a blistering 1.7 seconds, which paid out $10,000.
She made it to the American last year, too, but a head-start penalty took her out of contention early.
That could be a bad sign for her competitors this weekend.
This is the girl who, a year after finishing runner-up by less than 0.1 seconds in breakaway roping at the 2024 National High School Finals Rodeo, came back to win it last summer.
Not A Fluke
The format in Arlington means 15 qualifiers from regions around the country compete to be among the five best who advance to Saturday’s Showdown Round.
There, they’ll go head-to-head with five pros (for Thompson those include defending world champion Munsell and recent Premier Women’s Rodeo champ Rylee George) before a final-four round determines the champion.
In 2023, the American breakaway champ was veteran Jackie Crawford, who has 20 world titles.
Thompson out-roped her at the recent qualifier in Las Vegas.
“I’ll tell you what, Hadley has one of the best chances of any of those girls,” said Jordan Jo Hollabaugh, a TV commentator and two-time NFR qualifier in breakaway from Texas. “Roping against Jackie Crawford or anyone else does not phase her.
“What she did at Las Vegas — that’s just a normal everyday run for her. I’m not sure she even really knows what’s all on the line, but she’s been in pressure situations and she wants to win.”
‘They Never Back Down’
Helping her calves get a clean start in the baseball stadium will be Hadley’s dad, Thorpe Thompson, a former wrestler at the University of Wyoming.
He uses just one word to describe Hadley’s secret weapon: grit.
“All our kids have it,” he said. “They don’t quit. They never back down.”
Hadley is the sixth of Thorpe and Shelly Thompson’s eight kids. They’re home-schooled and practice roping every day.
Hadley’s older sister Haiden is pro breakaway’s defending Rookie of the Year and a two-time national collegiate champion while at Gillette College.
Last summer, Hadley became the first cowgirl to win three national high school titles simultaneously since 1991.
“Everything in our world is a competition, to the point sometimes we feel the need to race to see how fast we can eat,” said Thorpe. “The girls push each other hard.”
Just Her And Salty
Every horse on the Thompson place was bought as a baby and trained by the kids in a sport where horses are usually purchased for tens of thousands of dollars each.
In Arlington, Hadley will ride Salty, the 7-year-old mare she broke to ride five years ago. She’s already earned $45,000 jackpotting on Salty’s 4-year-old sister, Kit Kat.
And as for Hadley’s good barrel racing horse, Thorpe traded two nanny goats and $300 for that one.
Hadley learned the breakaway fundamentals from mentors like South Dakota veteran clinician Carole Hollers.
She’s reached the level where 90% of winning is mental, Thorpe said.
He’s taught Hadley and her siblings to reframe mistakes positively, to control only what they can — their reactions — and to trust outcomes to God.
According to Thorpe, controlling emotional responses also goes back to their faith. That’s been tested considerably, as the family is still reeling from the tragic sudden death last month of Hadley’s 18-year-old Cheyenne cousin.
More Wyoming In Texas
Casper’s Jhett and Jenny Johnson also watched two of their three sons qualify to rope for the bonus this weekend in team roping, but not together.
Kellan Johnson will head for Gillette College alumnus Trae Smith of Georgetown, Idaho, while Carson Johnson will heel for Cory Kidd of Statesville, North Carolina.
The brothers also know big stages, having won the College National Finals Rodeo together in 2021, and Kellan also won it in 2018.
“What if they both made the top four?” asked Jhett, who will be home at the ranch branding calves during the rodeo. “We’d have a 50/50 chance of winning a million!”
Jhett’s earnings with his own rope surpassed $1 million, but that was over more than 20 years as a pro and included the 2011 world heeling championship.
“By far the most I ever won in one day was $84,000 and a truck and trailer at the George Strait Classic,” Jhett said. “And that doesn’t even warm this up. It’s life-changing money.”
Wyoming native Brody Cress of Hillsdale is in the running at the American as well in saddle bronc riding, while bareback riding contenders Weston Timberman and R.C. Landingham have Casper and Kaycee ties through Weston’s uncle Kelley Timberman and R.C.’s stepfather Ty Skiver.
In Arlington, Friday’s semifinals start at 6:30 p.m., with Saturday’s Showdown Round set for 11:30 a.m. and the Championship Round for 3 p.m.
Thompson, regardless of whether she becomes a millionaire on Fox Sports, already has a plane ticket for a late Saturday night flight back to Wyoming so she can rope in Buffalo at the state high school finals rodeo.
Thompson has faith in a game plan that already made her the best high school breakaway roper in the country. Why wouldn’t it work just as well in front of 40,000 fans inside Globe Life Field before a national television audience?
“I think you need to keep it as simple as you can,” she said, adding that in the end, the money and the pressure don’t matter. “See the start and rope the calf.”
