On the latest episode of The Breakdown, 2025 INFR Breakaway World Champion Megan Lunak opens up about the four-run performance that earned her the gold buckle in Las Vegas—and the decades of resilience, heartbreak and faith that made that moment possible.
Lunak won the title on Oct. 18 with a 13.41-second total on four head, earning $7,523 and securing the biggest win of her career. But on the podcast, she makes one thing clear: the buckle is only part of the story.
Megan Lunak on The Breakdown Podcast
The rodeo she almost didn’t enter
Lunak tells The Breakdown that her entire trip to the INFR hinged on a hometown rodeo she nearly skipped. After losing five family members in just a few months, rodeo wasn’t a priority. But one mare—her now-famous “Cricket”—kept calling her back.
“I wasn’t going to be sitting at home crying when there was a rodeo 20 miles from the house,” Lunak says on the interivew.
She entered Browning, Montana, won it—and punched an automatic ticket to Vegas. That win let her spend the summer at home on the Blackfeet Reservation, reconnecting with her family ranch and the culture that grounds her.
A clean-slate Finals and a mare with heart
When she arrived in Las Vegas, Lunak came with a mission: rope every calf like a ranch job. The INFR starts clean, so every contestant is back on equal footing.
Her mare, Notta Wimpy Gun (“Cricket”), rose to the moment with lightning speed and the grit Lunak spent years developing.
“I give a lot of credit to my horse,” Lunak said. “She’s amazing… the most fun horse I’ve ever owned.”
Lunak pulled checks in Rounds 1 and 4 with runs of 2.95 and 2.61 seconds to win the average and the world.
Sobriety, strength and showing up anyway
On the podcast, Lunak is unflinchingly honest about her past—including a decade of sobriety that reshaped her life and career.
“I was ruining my life,” she tells listeners. “But my dad, Dutch, set the bar for how to live a good, clean cowboy life.”
Even after she got sober, things didn’t magically get easier. Living on the Blackfeet Reservation, she sees addiction every day—and hopes her story can be a lighthouse for someone else.
“If I can be a role model to let them know they’re not alone, I will.”
Don’t miss the full conversation
This interview is Lunak at her realest—funny, vulnerable, tough and proud. She takes listeners inside:
- The rodeo that changed everything
- How grief reshaped her season
- What makes Cricket so special
- The moment she knew she wasn’t “leaving second” in Vegas
- Sobriety, loss and rebuilding identity
- Film-set stories from Yellowstone
- Why she wants to be a resource for other women in rodeo
🎧 Listen to the full episode of The Breakdown now. It’s one of our most powerful conversations of the season.
Episode supported by Kimes Million Dollar Breakaway
The Kimes Ranch Million Dollar Breakaway, presented by Boot Barn, is the premier event in women’s rodeo, featuring a record-breaking million-dollar purse, inspiring competition, live concerts, shopping, and family fun at WestWorld of Scottsdale, November 24–30.
