South Dakota cowboys and cowgirls dominate the entry list at the 2025 Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo in Minot, N.D. 

The rodeo takes place Oct. 10-12 at the N.D. State Fair Center in Minot, N.D. Shows start at 7 pm on Oct. 10-11 and at 1 pm on Oct. 12.

Out of the 104 contestants set to compete, two-thirds are from South Dakota.

Throughout the rodeo regular season, competitors have been stockpiling money earned, with the top twelve in each event qualifying to compete for nearly $250,000 in prize money, and a chance to be Badlands champion.

In the eight events at the circuit finals, South Dakota cowboys and cowgirls lead their respective events in six categories: Kyle Bloomquist, Kadoka (bareback riding); Guy Howell, Belle Fourche (team roping header); Logan Schliinz, Whitewood (team roping heeler); Cash Wilson, Wall (saddle bronc riding); Ty Moser, Volga (tie-down roping); Summer Kosel, Glenham (barrel racing) and Jeff Bertus, Avon (bull riding).

For bull rider Jeff Bertus, this will be his thirteenth consecutive trip to the Badlands Circuit Finals; he’s qualified every year since 2012. He qualified last year but didn’t compete due to injury.

Bertus enters the circuit finals in first place with a commanding lead of $47,821, nearly double the second place man, Brody Nelson.

He’s won the Badlands Circuit year-end title four times and the average title five times, and with his lead, looks like he’ll capture another year-end title.

The 33-year-old had a good year, he said, winning rodeos in Killdeer, N.D., and Cherokee, Iowa, among others.

Growing up on a dairy farm, his parents didn’t rodeo but he and his younger brother, Joe, took an interest in the movie “Eight Seconds.” His dad would put a halter on the Holstein calves and the boys would ride them. “We didn’t know a lot starting out,” Bertus said, “but we learned along the way.”

Another perennial powerhouse will team rope in Minot.

Guy Howell, Belle Fourche, has competed in the Montana and Mountain States Circuits before settling into the Badlands Circuit and has won both Montana and Mountain States titles before.

He’s qualified for the Badlands Circuit Finals at least ten times, he estimates, winning the year-end in 2006 and the finals in 2009.

He and heeler Logan Schliinz have each won $27,758 in circuit monies.

At one time Howell rodeoed full time, but the circuit system, allowing a person to rodeo and still get home to be employed and enjoy a family has worked for him. He and wife Shanna ranch near Belle Fourche and raised four daughters: Bridget, Brooke, Shayla and Shyanne.

Minnesotan-turned-South Dakotan Kyle Bloomquist is in the lead in the bareback riding.

The Kadoka cowboy has earned $21,274 in the regular season, with what he calls “probably one of my best years, to date,” having won Belcourt, N.D., Watertown and Interior, S.D. and fourth place in Killdeer, N.D. 

“It’s been my best year, and my most fun.” He juggles full time work as a loan officer at a credit union with rodeoing. 

Several bulging disks in his neck in 2021 slowed his rodeo career, so he took a fulltime job. He rodeos mostly in the circuit, to be able to be home for work.

This is Bloomquist’s fourth qualification to the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo; he has competed at the Great Lakes Circuit Finals in Louisville, Kentucky, three times.

Other leaders include steer wrestler Scott Kleeman, Killdeer, N.D. and breakaway roper Danielle Wray, Ord, Neb.  

The Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo is the culmination of the rodeo regular season.

The top twelve cowboys and cowgirls in each of eight events (bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, tie-down roping, saddle bronc riding, breakaway roping, barrel racing and bull riding) who have won the most money over the regular season qualify to compete at the circuit finals rodeo.

The Badlands Circuit is the PRCA’s designation of contestants living in North Dakota and South Dakota. Contestants from other states may opt in. 

Tickets range in price from $25-$35. Kids general admission tickets are $12.50 (ages 2-12).

To purchase tickets, visit BadlandsCircuitFinalsRodeo.com.