Split-combo roping team finds NFR success

As its name implies, team roping is the only event at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo that requires partners to morph into a single entity to achieve success.

It takes timing, coordination, communication and trust between the header and heeler, as well as their horses. So teams that come together at the NFR out of necessity rather than by design are usually at a distinct disadvantage.

There are four such tandems at the Thomas & Mack Center this year, an unusually high number.

Jonathan Torres has become the poster child among the split-partner combos.

The 33-year-old heeler from Ocala, Fla., is competing in his fourth NFR — all of them while his header during the regular season is sitting on the sidelines.

Torres earned $111,672 ahead of Las Vegas to grab the 15th and final qualifying spot for the NFR. His primary teammate during 2025, Nelson Wyatt of Alabama, finished 21st among the headers.

That caused Torres to join forces with Canadian cowboy Kolton Schmidt, who ranked 14th among the headers during the regular season.

In addition to Schmidt and Torres, Dustin Egusquizo is roping with third-place Levi Lord at the T&M, after their regular partners JC Flake and Shay Carroll finished out of the top 15.

Clay Smith and Coleby Payne have reunited, after a no-time in last year’s final round cost them the average championship, with Lightning Aguilera and Kaden Profili rounding out the split-partner teams.

Auspicious beginning

While they all will have to connect as teammates quickly if they hope to pad their season’s earnings and ascend the standings, Torres, for one, has shown that it is doable.

Last year, Torres and his new partner Derrick Begay cashed in three of the 10 rounds, pocketing $113,778 apiece. The bonanza boosted Torres to a career-high seventh in the final heeler standings with $231,483.

This year, Torres and Schmidt accepted a no-time in Thursday’s opening round, which set them back in the average right out of the chutes. But they bounced back to share second-place money Friday by stopping the clock in 4.1 seconds.

They were even better on Saturday night.

After brothers Dawson and Dillon Graham took the early lead with a run of 3.8 seconds, Aguilera and Profili, then Schmidt and Torres matched that 3.8 time in back-to-back runs, making it a three-way tie for first-place money.

Torres twirled his black cowboy hat in the air after the number went up on the Thomas & Mack scoreboard.

“My man Kolton did a great job,” Torres said. “I’m just happy I could finish it off.”

The victory, worth $29,177 apiece, also resulted in Torres’ first trip to the South Point showroom to receive a first-place belt buckle, one of the most cherished traditions of the NFR.

“I’ve only won once before, in Round 10, so I didn’t have a chance to go to the South Point,” Torres said, noting that the NFR doesn’t hold South Point buckle presentations after the final round.

“Looks like that’s changing tonight.”

It changed again Monday night, when Torres and Schmidt got first place all to themselves with a 3.7-second clocking. That’s good for another $36,668 apiece.

Torres and Schmidt now have $103,838 apiece over five nights, vaulting Torres to No. 4 in the heeler world standings and Schmidt to No. 5 in the header world standings.

Resisting change

Despite the quick start with Schmidt and the success he has enjoyed with other add-on partners at the NFR, Torres still has reservations about having to do it that way.

“Change, to me, is not what you want,” he told the Team Roping Journal about starting his fourth NFR with yet another new hired hand. “(But) I know Kolton will do his job.”

Just as Wyatt did his, when Torres needed a late-season push just to make it to the NFR. The two continued to rope together, even when it became apparent that Wyatt had little to no chance of qualifying for the Finals.

“I don’t love it for Nelson, because we’re a good team, and I don’t like him being left out,” said Torres, who graduated with a degree in criminal justice from McNeese State. “But him still going with me toward the end to give me a chance is a big deal.”

Torres said he and Wyatt plan to remain a team moving forward.

But for now, he’s all about building on the momentum that he and Schmidt, a former hockey player who is competing in his third NFR, have acquired in the early rounds.

“It’s always awesome to get an opportunity (at the NFR), no matter what,” Torres said about the game of musical chairs that often ensues in team roping before the NFR begins.

But until the music stops and there’s no more money to be won, the objective for new partners is the same as it is for old ones.

Take home as much of it as you can, while you can.