After two years out of professional competition, 31-year-old Taylor Santos is again the Cinch Timed Event Champ, winning the $100,000 title with a time of 351.7 seconds on the Ironman’s 25 head.

Even with needing to throw a second tripping loop in the final round, Santos, who won the Ironman title in 2020, topped reigning champ Ketch Kelton by 2.8 seconds in the final aggregate, with Coleman Proctor finishing third at 412.1. 

A return built in rehab

For Santos, the win at the Lazy E Arena was not just another all-around title. It was the end point of a comeback that started with a phone call telling him to enjoy the rodeo he was headed to, because it would be his last for a while.

The last time Santos competed at the Cinch Timed Event Championship was in 2023. In the two years that followed, he stepped away from competition and underwent three surgeries after trying to manage pain that had lingered for years.

“My hips had been bugging me since the NFR in ’21,” Santos said. “I tried to battle through it for a couple years.”

Eventually, imaging revealed significant damage in both hips. Santos underwent surgery to repair both labrums and clean up the impingement that had been limiting him. Because of recovery timelines, the surgeries were spaced roughly 10 to 11 weeks apart. Once he had worked through those rehabs, another issue surfaced. His right knee, which had bothered him on and off, still was not right. More imaging showed a torn meniscus and cysts, leading to a third surgery.

The physical side of recovery was only part of the challenge. Santos said there were days when long stretches on the bike or elliptical made it easy to picture a return, and just as many days when he was unsure he would ever be able to compete at a high level again.

His wife, Jordan, helped steady that process.

“She was always positive,” Santos said. “She’d talk about speaking positivity over your health and believing you could come back.”

The couple’s son, Beau Frank, arrived in the middle of that stretch. Santos had knee surgery seven days after Beau was born. Looking back, he said the chance to show his son what it looks like to push through adversity became part of the motivation.

The test run back to Guthrie

By the summer of 2025, Santos began slowly testing his body again. He tripped some steers, tied some calves and tried to gauge whether he could hold up across all five events required at the Cinch Timed Event Championship: heading, heeling, tie-down roping, steer wrestling and steer roping.

“This event is so competitive that you can’t come in at 50 percent,” Santos said.

That caution showed in the way Santos approached the comeback. He did not rush to declare himself ready. He entered Pendleton, got some work done there and finally felt enough confidence to commit to Guthrie.

Once there, he looked like he had not been gone long at all.

Santos opened the week with a 69.8-second round to finish second to Seth Hall’s 65.6. He backed that up with a 68.9 in Round 2, tying Blane Cox for third in the round behind Coleman Proctor and Brushton Minton. On Friday night, Santos stayed in the hunt with a 63.2-second run in Round 3, second only to rookie Zane Kilgus’ 60.4. 

The consistency mattered more than any one splashy round win. Through the first three rounds, Santos never let the field get away from him.

Horses, help and staying in rhythm

Timed Event titles are never won alone, and Santos leaned on a set of horses and people he trusted to get through the week.

His head horse belonged to Chad Mathis and had been at Santos’ house since November. Santos had used him to trip steers and get him seasoned. In the tie-down roping, he started on a mare owned by Chisum Allen, then made a switch after the second round when he felt the timing was not quite where it needed to be. Blane Cox let Santos get on his buckskin, a move Santos said gave him a fresh feel and helped him settle back in.

For steer wrestling, Santos rode Mario, a horse owned by Allen Good. Santos had watched the horse for years and liked him long before he ever swung a leg over him in competition. Good also hazed for Santos, as he did for Quade Hiatt and Riley Wakefield aboard the same horse.

In the team roping, Santos credited Jake Clay with giving him exactly the kind of support a returning competitor needs. Clay, a proven switchender and buster, brought experience and calm to a setup that required both.

“I trust Jake Clay with anything,” Santos said. “Him and Colter Todd might be the two best switchenders to have ever lived.”

That support showed up in the details. Santos was not dominant in every event every round, but he stayed clean enough and quick enough to keep building. He was second in Round 1 steer wrestling with a 6.4 and second in Round 1 steer roping with a 16.3. In Round 3, he tied Brushton Minton for the fastest steer roping time at 17.5. In Round 4, he was again second in the steer roping at 14.6, trailing only Coleman Proctor’s 12.4. 

Round 4 put him in control

The decisive move may have come in Round 4.

Ketch Kelton won the round in 49.0 seconds and Proctor was second at 65.2, but Santos’ 71.3 was good enough for third and, more importantly, kept him in command entering Saturday night.

That set up the final performance with Santos still leading, but with Kelton close enough to apply real pressure.

The week’s cuts had already reduced the field from 25 to 20 after Round 2, then from 20 to 15 after Round 4. By the last night, the Timed Event had narrowed to the group that had managed the best mix of speed and survival.

Santos had done more than survive. He had put himself in position to win.

One more rope, one more title

The final round did not belong to Santos on paper. Kelton won Round 5 in 55.0 seconds, Proctor was second at 56.5 and Hall finished third at 57.6. Will Lummus was fourth at 58.2, with Tyler Worley fifth at 79.0. 

But the championship belongs to the man who handles the whole week, and Santos did enough in the final round to finish the job. He had to throw a second head loop to kick things off, but he made the calf roping, heeling and steer wrestling look easy.

The most dramatic moment came in the steer roping, when he had to go to his second loop. Santos said once he reached for that rope, the equation changed. There was no room left for hesitation. He had 25 seconds to catch Kelton, meaning that second loop and tie had to work—and fast.

“When I grabbed the second rope, it was kind of a nothing-to-lose moment,” Santos said. “I needed to make a shot.”

He made it, got the steer tied and then had to wait for the full meaning of it to land. He glanced toward the scoreboard but said he could not clearly make out the numbers. For a moment, everything went quiet.

Then the noise came back.

So did the emotion.

What the win means now

Santos’ first Timed Event Championship came at a different stage of life, when his grandfather was still alive and able to see it. This one carried its own weight. His mother—TRJ Senior Editor Kendra Santos—was there again. His brother Lane flew in. Wife Jordan and son Beau Frank were part of the scene this time too.

“My mom has been my day one,” Santos said.

The emotions were personal, but the practical side of the win mattered too. Preparing for the Timed Event Championship is expensive, especially after two years away. Santos said he sold horses while recovering just to keep things moving. Practice cattle are not cheap. Finished horses are not cheap. Time away from competition has a cost all its own.

That made the $100,000 payday more than a headline figure.

“It’s a huge financial day for our family,” Santos said.

Still, the result that matters most is the one next to his name in the final aggregate: first, 351.7.

Final Cinch Timed Event Results

2026 Cinch Timed Event Championship Final Results