Youth competitors Kai Clark and Mandie O’Neil delivered a championship-caliber performance to win the #18 Rated Youth division at the 2025 Cinch RSNC World Finals, held in June at the Will Rogers Memorial Center. The dynamic duo sorted 25 head of cattle in 158.01 seconds over three rounds, besting a robust field of youth teams and earning $4,694 and a pair of World Champion buckles from Professional’s Choice.

Strategy Under Pressure

Clark, of Palm City, Florida, and O’Neil, from Hockley, Texas, comprised a #9 rated team, showing strategy and grit throughout the event—a hallmark of high-level ranch sorting, especially in an all-levels youth class that mirrors the intensity of adult competition.

In an interview with EQN Sports following the win, Clark, who turned 18 just days after the conclusion of the World Finals, shared the pair’s deliberate strategy as they navigated their way through three pressure-packed rounds.

“Round 1, we were really just trying to get 10 head,” Clark said. “We just wanted to make sure we got back, and that was the plan. And the second go, we were just trying to set our cows up, get six or seven head and make it back to the short go. And we ended up getting nine. So that worked out well; we were just trying to stay alive and make it back.”

At 15, O’Neil is a quieter but no-less-decisive presence in the arena. Like her partner, she was zeroed in on the end-goal.

“There were some pretty good teams,” she said. “So we just wanted to get a check.”

Their final round approach was tactical—and smart. 

“It was kind of a spur of the moment decision,” said Clark, who rode a different horse in each round, appropriately calling on Cheques (Im Countin Checks x SR My Quixote Lady) for the championship round. “I just wanted to make sure we got a check and just reset the herd every time. I mean really, I was just trying to get first, second or third, and I knew I had one of them locked down, so we were just shooting for a check and it worked out.”

More Than Just One Win

As they watched top contenders fall short behind them, the realization of a World Championship began to set in—but not for O’Neil, who preferred to wait out the results from afar.

“I didn’t want to watch,” O’Neil admitted. “I was too nervous.” 

Their nerves paid off in the form of World Champion buckles and a trip to the pay window, but that was just the beginning of a tremendous week for these ranch sorters. 

At World Finals end, O’Neil would take home $3,532 for her winnings in the Rated Youth and in the 3-Man and Bareback, in which she took fourth place. Clark was just getting started on Youth Finals night, bankrolling $14,667 in the week, nearly half of which was won the Professional’s Choice #9 Gold Shootout, not to mention winning the 3-Man 2-Gate, getting fast times in the Bareback, and holding the gate for the victor of the Chrome Cash Non-Pro.

Notably, the Chrome Cash Non-Pro Futurity was won on Hawk N Roll, a horse owned by O’Neil and jockeyed by Rey Echeto.

“Rey rides a lot of young horses, and he’s been riding my horse at Matt Stevens’ for about a month and a half,” O’Neil explained. “The horse came from roping. He didn’t know what to do, and I guess Matt and Rey just took it from there.”

In the end, though, both Clark and O’Neil walked away with more than buckles and winner’s checks—they proved they belong at the top of youth ranch sorting, indicating a bright future for the sport.

This article appears in the Summer 2025 issue of The Ranch Sorter, featuring World Champion stories, event recaps, regional results, and more.

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