Kolton Schmidt and Jonathan Torres entered the 2025 NFR 14th and 15th in the PRCA world standings, respectively, but with two steers left, the Canadian and the Floridian are in the driver’s seat for a pair of gold buckles.

They won the day money in Round 8 with a 3.8-second run worth $36,667 a man, moving them to first in the world standings with $279,074 and $270,808 won. Previous aggregate leaders Clint Summers and Jade Corkill took a no-time in Round 8, moving Schmidt and Torres to first in aggregate with a time of 28.70 on seven head. No team has caught all eight steers, saving Tanner Tomlinson and Patrick Smith’s 53.00 on 10 NFR aggregate record for another year.

Full NFR Team Roping Results

“We’re just trying to do the best we can on every steer when we back in there and just be fully focused and just rack up as much money as we can,” Torres, 33, said.

Torres and Schmidt didn’t rodeo with one another all year, but after their regular season partners missed the top 15 cut, they paired up for the Finals. Torres has been to the NFR four times before, never with a regular-season partner. He placed in three rounds in 2024, winning $231,483 on the year and finishing seventh—a career high.

This is Schmidt’s third NFR appearance. He made his first Finals in 2016, finishing 10th with $132,378 won on the season. In 2020, he made the Finals in Arlington, Texas, finishing 15th with $76,676.

“The go-round win is huge—it’s a blessing—it’s beyond amazing,” Schmidt said. “But I’m more excited that I did my job tonight. I feel like that’s a big sigh of relief for me. In the past I’ve been able to get backwards when something doesn’t go right, so to overcome it and do a good job the next steer is really big for me.”

About Last Night

Schmidt and Torres survived a less-than-ideal go in Round 7 with a 5.0-second run. Schmidt was disgusted with himself afterward, and he worked quickly to address the horsemanship mistakes he made.

“Everything that we worked on not doing with my roping and riding, I hit every one of those points last night,” Schmidt confessed. “I did exactly what we were not going to do, so I was bummed out. I was pulling on my horse, and then I threw my rope over top, sent his front end in the ground, stacked on two, dallied, kicked, pulled. It was just a complete mess.

“Rhen (Richard, who owns the horse) was pretty cool about it,” Schmidt said. “It was no big deal. We honestly kind of pre-gamed a little bit—premeditated on our steer. I thought he was going to be a lot softer than what he was. So we wanted to hit a few spots in the run that were going to set us up for that. And the steer was a little bit sharper and off to the right, so it was kind of like ‘abandon ship, close the eyes team roping,’ which I hate doing. I’ve worked very hard on not doing that.”

Torres, though, was ready for anything.

“I told him when I rode out of the arena, I already had kind of sent my horse in a little early,” Torres explained. “I thought even on my end I might’ve even maybe quit riding too soon. And for the situation—same thing—I thought that steer would kind of come into me, and I think that made it look that much worse. But I feel like I kind of had quit riding a little early right there and got to the inside and just stayed patient. I knew he was going to pull him by me at some point, but I felt like at some point there I was looking at the ear tag. I just had to wait him out and I knew he was going to pull him by me, so I just made sure I put a good loop down there and finished the run. And then we’ll move on.”

Round 8

Schmidt and Torres drew steer 21, one that nobody had won a check on yet in two previous outings.

“We just talked about it and slowed back down,” Schmidt said. “We broke a little bit more narrow to the flag tonight just to cover up if the horse was going to get a step away from me, which he is. He’s a rodeo horse now, so he knows the play. I really wanted to focus on watching it go on the horns, getting to a spot, setting my horse up to face better.”

Both men have stayed on the same borrowed pair of horses all week—Schmidt on A&C Racing and Roping’s 7-year-old gelding SJR Diamond Bond, and Torres on Jared Fillmore’s 10-year-old gelding Lynx Dancin Rooster.

“Joe B(eaver) said the other night, ‘What I like about you boys is you don’t let your pride get in the way,'” Torres said. “And really, at the end of the day, it’s whatever fits the situation the best. I know Kolton’s going to do whatever it takes, and I know that’s the kind of guy he is. I know he’s going to give it all he’s got and he’s going to ride the best horse that he thinks will fit us, not just him. And same for me. I feel like that heel horse can really run. And I’m just thankful that I’m able to ride that horse. I feel like he’s fast, he’s strong at the horn, he moves his feet really well. I don’t feel like you’re ever really behind.”

In the Driver’s Seat

If the NFR were over after Round 8 and average money paid out where it stands, Schmidt and Torres would win the world with $373,109 and $364,843, respectively. Summers and Corkill would be second with $321,363 and $321,688, finishing in a tie for second and third in the average by 2.6 seconds. Andrew Ward and Jake Long are tied with Summers and Corkill in the aggregate, and they’d finish third in the standings with $312,330 and $310,584.

Round 8 NFR Team Roping Results