Cinch header Kolton Schmidt roped with eight partners through the 2025 regular season; Cinch heeler Jonathan Torres will be his ninth when the two compete next week at the National Finals Rodeo. They are two of 18 Cinch cowboys competing in team roping.
(PHOTO BY RIC ANDERSEN)

 

18 Cinch cowboys will rope for rodeo’s gold while in Las Vegas

As the only true partner-related event in rodeo, team ropers rely on their counterparts to have success.

They travel together, eat together and compete together. One’s fortune is shared by the other. So is one’s defeat. The goal, of course, is to win world championships, and to do that, headers and heelers have to play on ProRodeo’s biggest stage, the National Finals Rodeo, set for Dec. 4-13 at Las Vegas.

Most of the 15 teams in the field have roped together all or most of the season. That’s not the case for Cinch team ropers Kolton Schmidt and Jonathan Torres. They were matched after the regular season came to a close Sept. 30, when both men made the NFR without partners.

“Jonathan’s going to be the ninth partner this year,” said Schmidt, 31, a three-time heading qualifier from Barrhead, Alberta.

It’s true. The Canadian won the San Angelo (Texas) Stock Show and Rodeo in April with Will Woodfin. He won the Ponoka (Alberta) Stampede in July with Sid Sporer, then closed out the season with the September victory in Bakersfield, California, with Chase Tryan.

Through every rodeo – and every partner change – Schmidt kept winning. He finished the year with just shy of $120,000 and will compete in the City of Entertainment as the 14th-ranked header on the money list. Torres, a four-time qualifier from Ocala, Florida, is No. 15 in the heeling standings.

They are two of 18 Cinch team ropers who will compete at the 10-day championship, and they are also joined by two other teams that will be new pairings for the NFR: two-time world champion Clay Smith of Broken Bow, Oklahoma, and Coleby Payne of Stephenville, Texas, will rope together, while Dustin Egusquiza of Marianna, Florida, will reunite with Levi Lord of Sturgis, South Dakota.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to go back to the NFR,” said Schmidt, who first qualified nine seasons ago, then returned in 2020. “There has been a lot of time and effort going toward this, but we’re happy to be back. I’m really excited to be part of this group of guys.”

Other Cinch headers are standings leader Kaleb Driggers, a two-time world champion from Hoboken, Georgia; Cyle Denison, a two-time qualifier from Iowa, Louisiana; Dawson Graham, a Wainwright, Alberta, cowboy competing at his first NFR; Jake Smith of Broken Bow, now at NFR No. 2; and 12-time qualifier Riley Minor of Ellensburg, Washington.

The Cinch heelers include three-time world champion Jade Corkill of Fallon, Nevada; Travis Graves, a 16-time qualifier from Jay, Oklahoma; Lane Mitchell, a first-timer from Bolivar, Tennessee; Brady Minor, a 14-time qualifier from Ellensburg; Try Yates, a four-time finalist from Pueblo, Colorado; Douglas Rich, a three-time qualifier from Herrick, Illinois; and Kaden Profili, who is making his second straight trip to Las Vegas and is from Jacksonville, Texas.

Each man understands what it takes to make it to the grand finale, which features a $13.5 million purse. Go-round winners will collect nearly $37,000 per night and per side, so this is a big part of their business strategies.

For Schmidt, much has changed since his inaugural adventure to the NFR.

“Life is completely different than it was in 2016,” he said. “I’ve got a wife and two boys now, and there’s just a lot that’s changed for me.”

He was one of the 119 contestants to compete on a baseball field five Decembers ago, when the pandemic shortened the season and forced a one-year change of venue to Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

“I lost my good horse two years after that, so I’ve just been trying to grow my herd,” Schmidt said. “I feel like that’s been the hardest part.”

Oftentimes, life is about overcoming challenges. He’s done that over a career that began 13 seasons ago. He’ll do it again with another new partner, this time surrounded by the legendary yellow chutes and panels inside the Thomas & Mack Center. Schmidt and Torres have been practicing their runs to get ready for the most magical 10 rodeo days of the year.

“I’m just going to focus on my job and try to provide him with the best opportunity I can,” Schmidt said. “I’ve just got to handle the cow now. If I do my job, he’ll do his.”