South Dakota’s Keylee Zancanella turned heads over the Fourth of July run with her standout performance at the Roughrider Days Rodeo in Dickinson, North Dakota, winning the barrel racing and pulling a check in breakaway roping for a total of $4,332 won.
Despite her impressive multi-event showing and more than $2,000 lead over the next-closest competitor, Resistol Rookie Zancanella was not awarded the rodeo’s coveted all-around title. The award, typically given to the highest-earning athlete in two or more events, went instead to Austin Hurlburt, who earned $2,295 in the tie-down roping and steer wrestling.
In years past, cowboys have been predominantly considered for the all-around title, considering their ability to compete in seven events to women’s two. The ultimate say, according to WPRA’s Ann Bleiker, goes to each rodeo’s committee.
And awarding it to the men isn’t always the case. In 2019, Nellie Miller was awarded the All-Around title in Red Bluff, California. In 2021, the Cowboy Capital of the World Rodeo in Stephenville, Texas, awarded the All-Around to Ari-Anna Flynn. In 2024, Cooks Rodeo Days in Lubbock, Texas, awarded the All-Around trailer to Emma Charleston.
“When I found out they had an all-around, I thought I’d win it because I thought I’d won the most,” Zancanella said. “But once I realized I didn’t get it—because it’s only awarded to the boys [at this event]—it was upsetting. If a girl can win the all-around at a rodeo with the odds kind of against them… they should reward that in my opinion.”
But the decision may not have been made intentionally. The PRCA’s ProCom system still doesn’t link a female competitors events together in the entry system, making it even more difficult for them to enter both the barrels and breakaway in the same performance. The system does not “see” winnings earned in both events, and instead auto populates the all-around champion using money earned in the cowboy’s events.
Despite the system’s math, a committee can still choose to award the all-around to who they deem fit.
The Breakaway Roping Journal has reached out to Roughrider Days Rodeo’s committee and has not received clarification on their decision.
Zancanella is currently sitting No. 19 in the barrel racing rookie standings with $7,113 and No. 15 in the breakaway roping rookie standings with $8,089.
But wait, who is Zancanella?
Zancanella, who hails from Aurora, South Dakota, is no stranger to the sport. Her family operates Pride Farms and has a long rodeo lineage—her father Matt qualified for the NFR three times, and her mother made circuit finals on the same horse Zancanella now rides in barrels.
“I’ve done barrels since I was little because my parents raised barrel horses, so probably more of a barrel racer,” Zancanella said. “But I like doing more than one thing. It keeps me occupied and my horsemanship improving.”
Horsepower in multiple events
Her win in Dickinson came aboard Im Kinda Famous, a home-raised mare affectionately called “Little Bug.” The 13-year-old standout is by the family’s stud, Lions Share of Fame, and out of a mare Zancanella rode as a youth named Sweet Kinda Bugs by My Bugs.
“She does the same thing every time, and she’s pretty great,” Zancanella said. “I love her and hope I can get another one like her someday.”
In the breakaway roping, she placed aboard green mare Sanngirl, or “Buckle Bunny”—a 6-year-old cutting mare Zancanella trained in the breakaway herself. Though the two are clicking now, the transition wasn’t seamless.
“When I started her, she had a lot of issues,” Zancanella said. “She got hot in the box and really short, so we gave her a couple months off. I cut on her at high school finals, and will heel on her. She’s been amazing. She’s just so easy.”
Despite the disappointment in Dickinson, Zancanella is staying hooked on other fronts, like climbing the barrel racing Resistol Rookie standings and tuning on her horses.
“I’m just keep working my horses, try to win as much as I can and see how it all shakes out,” Zancanella said.
Roughrider Days Rodeo results
Barrel racing: 1. Keylee Zancanella, 16.88 seconds, $3,572; 2. Katie Halbert, 17.08, $2,858; 3. Ashley Day, 17.16, $2,322; 4. Makenna Shook, 17.21, $1,786; 5. Tyra Kane, 17.26, $1,429; 6. (tie) Taylor Hanson and Bobbi Olson, 17.27, $982 each; 8. Acey Pinkston, 17.28, $804; 9. Ashlyn Goven, 17.29, $714; 10. Millie Marquart, 17.32, $625; 11. (tie) Jane Fambro and Jessica Routier, 17.33, $491 each; 13. Lindsey Horner, 17.43, $357; 14. Austyn Tobey, 17.45, $268; 15. Lakken Bice, 17.47, $179.
Breakaway roping: 1. Keylie Tatum, 2.1 seconds, $4,343; 2. Tanegai Zilverberg, 2.3, $3,474; 3. (tie) Sloan Anderson, Maklain Kleeman, Whitney Profili, Sarah Verhelst and Joey Williams, 2.4, $1,824 each; 8. (tie) Kellie Dunlop, Taylor Engesser, Jacey Fortier, Bradi Good and Keylee Zancanella, 2.5, $760 each; 13. Sawyer Gilbert, 2.6, $434; 14. (tie) Kayelen Helton, Tiffany Ogren and Kendal Pierson, 2.7, $181 each.
