For the champion Gold Shootout teams of Arielle Weeast and Joel Lesh and of Viann Hegge and Jose Cota, the 2024 Cinch RSNC All Star Sorting Bowl at the South Point Hotel and Equestrian Center in Las Vegas Nov. 22-24, paid out big bucks, making the elevated entry fees a worthy investment.

Cinch #13 Gold Shootout

The Friday, Nov. 22, Cinch #13 Gold Shootout drew a field of competitors ready to battle for the 85% payback, which Stillwater, Oklahoma’s Arielle Weeast, 21, and Joel Lesh, 40, claimed when they closed the three-round deal with an aggregate time of 228.72 seconds on 35 head to earn an $8,406 paycheck.

@rsnc_official Arielle Weeast and Joel Lesh take home $8,406 in the #13 ♬ Welcome to the Show – CODY JOHNSON

“Drawing up seventh kind of made it a little different,” Weeast said of going into the championship round against the top 10 teams out of 135. “We had a better idea of what we were going into and, that way, we can kind of see what we’re dealing with and go from there.”

The win aligns well with the trajectory of Lesh’s ranch sorting career, throughout which he has won more than $500,000 at Cinch RSNC events, including a $4,752 win—also with Weeast—in the Mixed #13 at the State Fair of Texas Ranch Sorting produced by TR Performance Horses in Dallas this past August.

“We’ve had a pretty big run this year,” Lesh offered with casual ease, despite the challenges the herds have presented in those finals rounds. “Both of ‘em, the finals herd was tough. … I think only four teams sorted on the finals today.”

Luckily, the team was well-mounted on horses enrolled in Lesh’s training program.

“Both of [our horses] are owned by Mike Bloom,” said Weeast, who started working for Lesh this spring. “They worked phenomenal, so we cannot complain.”

The team covers the miles as they travel to RSNC events from Texas to New Jersey to Nevada and plenty of places in between, and it will be exciting to see how their Cinch RSNC World Finals unfolds in Fort Worth this June as they compete for a slice of the $75,000 Gold Shootout pie.

#9 Gold Shootout

On Saturday, Nov. 23, Casper, Wyoming’s Viann Hegge, 13, and Jose Cota of St. George, Utah, teamed up for the first time ever to win championship #9 Gold Shootout buckles and $10,164, for getting 29 head sorted in 225.64 seconds across four rounds.

“It went really well,” Hegge said of sorting with Cota and besting more than 200 teams. “We kind of had the same idea: just go out there and try our best and not safety up.”

The #9 is particularly appealing to young guns like Hegge for whom ranch sorting is a family affair—parents Malik and April, as well as sisters Adell and Kylynn compete, too—and for others like Cota, a working cowboy, who entered up at his first Cinch RSNC event just two years ago.

“I’ve been very close to winning this much money,” Cota said with the help of Equine Network’s Victor Ornelas, who served as a translator for the interview. “This year I finally won.”

Cota, who was accompanied by his wife and two children, gave his working horses a break and brought his competition horse to town. Together, they made working the gate look easy as young Hegge sorted off her numbers from atop her horse, Iceman.

“We got him from Justin Johnson,” Hegge said of the brother to PRCA World Champion Team Roper and Casper College’s head rodeo coach, Jhett Johnson. “We’ve had him for just a little over a year now. I won the [Youth #8 at the] RSNC World Finals on him.”

Despite the myriad ways to spend their winnings in Las Vegas, Cota and Hegge alike maintained pragmatic financial plans.

“I’m going to take my family to dinner,” Cota said. “They are my rock.”

“Normally, it just goes to all the stalls and the fees, and then whatever is left gets put into trucks and gas,” Hegge added, though each may be singing a different tune if they hit the powerball-like payday that’s planned for the winners of the 2025 Cinch RSNC World Finals Gold Shootouts.

About the Gold Shootouts

The Gold Shootout classes are new to the Cinch RSNC linup and are offered exclusively to Gold- and Platinum-level members of the Ranch Sorting National Championships.

Though the fees to enter Gold Shootouts are higher, so are the rewards. At the South Point, these premium classes paid back 85% to the tune of $74,704. Additionally, Gold and Platinum members who enter up in the Gold Shootouts throughout the season are eligible to compete in the classes at the Cinch RSNC World Finals in Fort Worth in June, with a guaranteed $75,000 payout.

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