McCright Chosen as Resistol WRCA Rookie of the Year
By Sara Gugelmeyer
Slash W Ranch team member Jaytin McCright of Amarillo, Texas, was chosen as the 2021 Resistol WRCA Rookie of the Year at the 2021 World Championship Ranch Rodeo. McCright, at 33 years old, has been day working in the Amarillo area for seven years, but just last year joined the Slash W Ranch rodeo team.
McCright competed in traditional rodeo in his younger years in team roping and had always dreamed of competing at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. After he graduated college, he spent a year on the PRCA rodeo trail but decided that was not the life he wanted to lead.
For McCright, however, the WCRR atmosphere rivals that of the NFR.
“Competing there is awesome. It’s everything a guy would hope for. This is like the NFR for cowboys,” McCright explains.
In a field of nearly 100 2021 rookies, McCright stood out to the WRCA board of directors because of his performance.
He roped the cow in the wild cow milking, drug calves during branding, heeled in the stray gathering and was on the line during the sorting. Although he says a “booboo” of his in the branding cost his team considerably in the placings, he was still happy with their performances. The Slash W team won the average in the sorting.
McCright says his strongest event is probably stray gathering, but he enjoys them all.
“As a team roper, you go to a rodeo but only get one steer and then you’re done,” McCright says. “At the WRCA rodeos, you get five events and they are all fun to me as long as I am involved and getting to do something.”
Throughout the competition year, McCright competed with the Slash W team at nine rodeos, and they won the Amarillo Range Riders rodeo to qualify for the championship.
McCright’s 8-year-old gelding Hand Me The Pepto was integral to his success, he says. He bought the Peptoboonsmal grandson as a 3-year-old when he was working in a feedyard, and trained him for the ranch rodeo arena. At the 2021 Waurika Chamber of Commerce Ranch Rodeo, Hand Me The Pepto was named Top Horse.
McCright looks forward to another year of WRCA competition as he continues to day work for the Slash W and other ranches, as well as work for an electrician in Amarillo. He also spends time with his wife of two years, Paige.
Started in 2018, the Resistol WRCA Rookie of the Year award is a collaboration between WRCA and Resistol to recognize the talents of first-time WRCA ranch team cowboys. For the honor of being the Rookie of the Year, McCright took home a 40X Black Gold Resistol hat and $2,500 cash sponsored by Resistol. Anyone is eligible his or her first year as a WRCA competitor.