A 19-year-old winning the Cinch Timed Event Championship might sound surprising—but if you’ve paid any attention to team roping in the last few years, watching Ketch Kelton win the 2025 Ironman title made perfect sense.
Kelton won three of five rounds en route to the title—a massive $109,000 inside the Lazy E, adding to the at least $100,000 he’d already won on the hallowed ground of the famous red-dirt arena in the last year. That includes the Hooey JR BFI and a third-place finish at the Feist in 2024, as well as 2024’s JR Ironman title.
“The the only thing that I think could beat this is maybe the NFR,” Kelton, of Mayer, Arizona, said. “Just nothing else could beat this. It was dream come true when I got to come here. And then, let alone win it, it’s amazing.”
Kelton forewent the opportunity to compete in the JR Ironman again this year, instead putting his name down with the other 24 best all-around hands in the world—and he led the event from start to finish, proving from the start of the 25-head competition that he was fit for an event that crowns the king of the cowboys.
“Call somebody else who might be surprised if you want a reaction. He’s a cowboy, and that’s a cowboy event. Even things that, when they don’t go perfect, don’t phase him. He keeps moving forward. He’s always forward motion. He never loses aggression. He’s a cowboy that’s done cowboy stuff long enough that it’s old hat to him.”
— Seven-time Timed Event Champion Trevor Brazile
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Kelton went 50.0 in Round 1, 72.5 in Round 2, 73.2 in Round 3, 80.9 in Round 4 and 62.0 in Round 5 across the heading, tie-down roping, heeling, steer wrestling and steer roping. Kelton has never taken a 60—essentially a no-time in CTEC competition—inside the Lazy E, even in his JR Ironman career.
Kelton’s team of horses included his famous Peaches, the grade, “one-in-a-million” palomino mare that he’s done the lion’s share of his winning aboard that’s owned by his handy sister Kenzie, and his own heel horse, LJ. He rode his calf horse, Happy Meal, Damian Padilla’s steer wrestling horse and Scott Snedecor’s good bay tripping horse, Goose. Kelton tapped Colter Todd, the 2023 NFR aggregate champ who’s made the Finals on both ends, for help at the Ironman.
While the win appears to be just the beginning of Kelton’s likely mammoth career, it’s a full circle moment for the Kelton family. Ketch spent his youth chasing steers out of the arena at the E during his dad Chance’s 12-Ironman appearances.
“I don’t know how I got so lucky with my kids,” Ketch’s mom Tammy said. “I tried to raise them right, I sacrificed for them, I made them do the things they didn’t want to do. But people keep asking…and I’m just so lucky. They’re incredible.”
Still in his freshman year at Cisco College, Kelton doesn’t plan to buy his PRCA card until he gets his welding degree and gets another head horse or two—which, of course, he plans to buy with some of his $109,000 he’s won.
All Cinch Timed Event Championship 2025 Results
FINAL CTEC 2025 AGGREGATE RESULTS
| NAME | AGGREGATE TIME | PAYOUT |
| Ketch Kelton | 338.6 | $100,000 |
| Dylan Hancock | 436.3 | $35,000 |
| Brushton Minton | 437.2 | $15,000 |
| Seth Hall | 444.9 | $10,000 |
| Kyle Lockett | 446.0 | $7,500 |
| Riley Wakefield | 463.6 | $5,000 |
| Paul D. Tierney | 464.8 | $4,500 |
| Russell Cardoza | 474.8 | $3,000 |
| Marcus Theriot | 480.6 | |
| Cody Doescher | 480.7 | |
| Kolton Schmidt | 484.4 | |
| Nelson Wyatt | 490.6 | |
| Colby Lovell | 500.3 | |
| Jess Tierney | 516.7 | |
| K.C. Jones | 547.5 |
FINAL CTEC 2025 ROUND RESULTS
| NAME | TIME | PAYOUT |
| Ketch Kelton | 62.0 | $3000 |
| Kolton Schmidt | 67.3 | $2000 |
| Dylan Hancock | 78.8 | $1000 |
| Seth Hall | 78.8 | |
| Russell Cardoza | 82.7 | |
| Brushton Minton | 99.5 | |
| Nelson Wyatt | 100.2 | |
| Cody Doescher | 106.3 | |
| Marcus Theriot | 112.0 | |
| Jess Tierney | 114.7 | |
| Riley Wakefield | 116.5 | |
| K.C. Jones | 126.5 | |
| Paul D. Tierney | 127.4 | |
| Kyle Lockett | 141.9 | |
| Colby Lovell | 154.4 |
