K yan Wilhite, a veteran member of Team Cavender’s, said he joined the team three years ago after his now-teammate and fellow tie-down roper, Luke Coleman, mentioned the team to him.
“I was at Texas High School Finals two or three years ago, and one of my buddies came and talked to me about it,” Wilhite said. “I thought it sounded like a pretty cool deal, so I sent in my application and joined the team not long after.” Wilhite, a New Mexico native, said his family always had horses and cattle, but no one before him was interested in roping or rodeos.
“I was probably seven years old, and then I found a rope in his shop. Then I just started roping random things like buckets and old metal cans,” he said. “About five months later, I kept on begging to keep roping. After that, my grandpa and one of his buddies built me a wooden roping dummy.”
Shortly after discovering his love for roping, Wilhite said his dad’s career moved his family to Albuquerque city limits. This move effectively paused any rodeo dreams Whilihite had. “That move lasted about one year, and then when I got back to where I could rope again, I was about eight and a half years old,” he said. “After that, I went to Sylvester Mayfields house for the first time.”
Sylvester Mayfield is a two-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (NFR) qualifier. Mayfield’s son, Shad, has an impressive resume as well. He is a five-time NFR qualifier and won thePRCA tie-down roping world title in 2020.
“I went to the Mayfields and started roping with them,” Wilhite said. “Sylvester taught me to rope the right way, and then I bought my first rope horse from Shad. “They are from Clovis as well, and my grandpa knew Sylvester. He hooked me up pretty good with them,” he added. “I would go down to their house and rope. I bought my first couple of horses from them.”
As Wilhite became more serious about roping, his dad and grandfather recognized this and built him an arena to practice. After competing in junior high school rodeos in New Mexico for two years, Wilhite said he transferred to Texas to rodeo.
“My eighth-grade year, I transferred and started to rodeo in Texas,” he said. “My whole high school rodeo career, I have been in Texas.” Wilhite said his time in Texas has been good for him. He was crowned the Texas High School Rodeo Association Tie-down Champion, and later that year, he captured theNHRSA tie-down world title. Riding his good horse Jag, whom he bought from fellow roper Marty Yates, he was also crowned the 2023 WCRA Tie-down World Champion.
In 2024, Wilhite decided to take on the big boys in the PRCA and made the Texas Circuit Finals, where he placed third in the third round with a time of 7.7 seconds. He added that he wants to rodeo on his permit again in 2025 but plans to buy his PRCA card in time for the 2026 rodeo season.
