Matching 4.1-second runs split the Cinch Playoffs title between James Arviso and Levi Lord and Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira, sending all four home from Puyallup with $14,858 apiece.
For Arviso and Lord, Puyallup was as much about getting back on track as it was adding another big check.
They opened their week with a 4.1, then used a 5.8 in Round 2 to finish 9.9 on two and advance third from their set. Rather than forcing runs every time they backed in the box, Arviso said their approach through the long rounds was intentionally simple.
“The runs felt good,” the 2025 Resistol Rookie Header of the Year said. “I didn’t think we did the crazy runs. It was like the runs where it was boring—runs where no one seen us coming and then we were in the top eight and then just made another smart run. Just smart roping, it felt like.”
Lord said their first-round 4.1 put them ahead of the game enough that they could manage the format instead of chasing every round. Knowing a 6.1 or better on their second steer would guarantee a spot in the Semifinals, they were 5.8 and moved on. A 5.6 in the Semifinals then put them third and into the final four.
That was when the plan changed.
With their Sioux Falls spot secured by reaching the final four and guaranteed money already on the table, there was little reason to hold back. Arviso and Lord drew the same steer they had been 5.8 on in the second round, one Lord knew they could be much faster on.
“He was a really, really good steer,” Lord said. “We knew we could be fast on him if we made a good run.”
They stopped the clock in 4.1 seconds.
Driggers and Nogueira were still left to rope behind them, and Lord knew better than to assume it was all over.
“With Kaleb roping right behind you, you don’t really think you’re going to probably get by him,” the five-time NFR heeler said. “But I guess we didn’t get by him but tied him, so it worked out all right.”
Driggers and Nogueira did exactly that, matching the 4.1 to split the title.
The result came at an important point in Arviso and Lord’s season. After a hot start that included Reno, Greeley and a strong Cowboy Christmas, both said the previous several weeks had slowed down.
Arviso wanted another win for more than the money.
“I told Levi we needed to win, not really for the money, but for our mental sake,” he said. “We weren’t doing very good the last three weeks.”
Lord echoed that. He said he and Arviso had been chipping away for the previous month to six weeks but hadn’t landed another major check like they had earlier in the summer.
“To get it turned around and win a big hit again,” Lord said, “its kind of nice to go get a big hit.”
That big hit moved Arviso to No. 4 on the head side with $140,165 and kept Lord fourth among heelers with $141,350.
Driggers and Nogueira left Puyallup in a different position. Both remained No. 1 in their respective World Standings with $203,925, but Driggers doesn’t view their position as one that allows them take their foot off the regular-season gas pedal.
“There is no such thing as breathing room anymore with as much money that is available in the regular season and the NFR,” the two-time world champ said. “You just have to try and do the best you can each and every time. Everyone has times when they win and times when they don’t, so when it’s your time, you just have to try and capitalize on the situation.”
Driggers and Nogueira placed fourth in the first round of Set Two with a 5.3 for $878 apiece, then were third in Round 2 with a 6.1 for another $1,755. Their 11.4 on two led the set into the Semifinals, where a 5.4 sent them to the final four before their 4.1 matched Arviso and Lord.
Driggers’ plan at Puyallup was particularly simple after learning from years when he felt like he tried to manufacture too much.
“Each year at Puyallup I try to do too much seems like and beat myself,” he said. “So this year, I just wanted to get out the barrier and turn my steers.”
Puyallup also did more than add another check to the World Standings. By reaching the final four, both teams secured spots at the Governor’s Cup in Sioux Falls, giving all four another big opportunity before the end of the regular season.
Lord said that amount of late-season money has completely changed what September looks like for ProRodeo team ropers. Sitting fourth in the world entering Puyallup, even he recognized how quickly the standings could move.
“It’s crazy how much it’s changed,” Lord said. “Five years ago, the season pretty much would’ve been over.”
Driggers sees the same shift after 18 seasons on the road. The opportunities are bigger, but experience has changed the way he handles them.
“In my younger years I would ride a roller coaster of emotion through the wins and losses,” he said. “But now I’ve grasped the fact that it is a marathon, not a sprint, and each week is important. I just try and do the best that I can each week and let the chips fall where they will.”
At Puyallup, those chips fell evenly: two teams, two 4.1-second runs and $14,858 in total per-man money.