Kolton Schmidt and Jonathan Torres won the team roping in Round 5 of the 2025 NFR with an event-fastest 3.7-second run, pocketing $36,667 a man Dec. 8.

The win put the Alberta header fifth in the world standings with $223,776 and the Florida heeler fourth with $215,510. They’ve won $103,838 over five rounds—the most of any team—and they’re fourth in the aggregate with a time of 16.3 seconds on four head.

“I know how hard we’ve worked and my support system behind me is huge,” Schmidt, 31, said. “So this for them and I’m ready to run five more.”

Schmidt and Torres liked the steer they drew when they watched the videos, but that steer didn’t quite look the same in real time in Round 5.

“He fell off to the right and had his head low, but I’m glad we don’t have to run him again,” Schmidt said. “I hit the barrier and then he kind of fell off of there and his head disappeared, and—Rhen (Richard) will like this—I followed my loop long enough. I actually rode my horse through the turn, so we’re making progress.”

“When we watch the run, really, he kind of almost fell off to the left a little bit,” Torres, 33, added. “Luke and Trey had run him earlier in the week and he was fine, good speed, and like I said, I was a little surprised in the run. When the run was happening, I kind of thought, dang, I kind of let the steer come off to the right and then really it felt like the steer was in my lap. He did a great job and just left him there for me, and I just finished him.”

Head Horses of the 2025 NFR

Schmidt and Torres have counted on the same team of horses all week to do their winning—7-year-old SJR Diamond Bond, owned by Rhen Richard of A&C Racing and Roping, and 10-year-old Lynx Dancin Rooster, owned by Jared Fillmore.

“We’re on bit number three this week, and Rhen leaves Vegas tomorrow,” Schmidt said. “So I know Bambi (Robb) who’s helping me is very excited that we’re not making another bit change. We started with an Owenby with a longer shank and, I don’t know, he might’ve thought it was too much. And then we went to a Myler, and then he didn’t think that I faced him good enough in the Myler. Then I rode the Owenby with a big port today, and I still didn’t face him very good. So I don’t know if he’s going to send me with the Hackamore tomorrow.”

Torres’ horse might be a ‘fireball’, but he read the play no problem when the steer stepped into him.

Heel Horses of the 2025 NFR

“He moves his feet really good,” Torres said. “He’s strong at the horn, and he finishes the steer and lets the header get turned around. Heel horses cannot cow off the steer. My horse never cowed off the steer when he came into me, and just literally you feel him under you where he slows down and then lets you heel the steer.”

In the PRCA world standings, Tanner Tomlinson leads the heading with $239,937 after he and Travis Graves were second in the day money with a 3.8 worth $28,979 a man. They’ve won $56,130 a man so far at this Finals, and Graves is fifth in the standings with $206,049. (Their discrepancy comes from the money Tomlinson won with Coleby Payne at Sioux Falls Governors Cup, for which Graves missed the cut.) Tomlinson and Graves are fifth in the aggregate with a 23.10 on four head.

Jake Long leads the PRCA’s heeling world standings with $233,404 on the year, after he and Andrew Ward stopped the clock in 5.7 seconds in Round 5—the only night they didn’t place in the day money thus far. Ward is second in the standings with $235,150. They lead the aggregate with a 21.90 on five head. They’re one of three teams with all five down, with gold buckle contenders Clint Summers and Jade Corkill on their heels at 22.0 on five head. Summers and Corkill are third and second, respectively, in the standings with $224,074 and $224,400. Summers and Corkill were 3.9 to win third and $21,882 a man in Round 5.

Derrick Begay and Colter Todd—the 2023 PRCA aggregate champs—are the only other team with all of their steers down, having roped five in 38.90 seconds.

NFR Team Roping Round 5 Results