Tanner Tomlinson and Coleby Payne have made quick work of their 2026 ProRodeo partnership, getting the year underway with the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo win Jan. 25.

Tomlinson and Payne topped the clean-slate short round in Denver with a 3.5-second run, tying the team roping arena record en route to the winter rodeo win and $12,629 apiece. A bracket-style rodeo that pays off the overall rounds, as well as each semifinals and the short round, winning nearly $13,000 a man out of Denver is no small feat.

“It gives us good confidence, obviously, to start off hot,” said two-time NFR heeler Payne. “To win the short round at Denver pays $5,500, and us winning $13,000, I feel like we had to earn it. We had to catch a lot of steers to get there to where winning Fort Worth, San Antonio or Houston, you’re getting a big chunk at once. But at this point in the year, it is a great start, but there’s also a long ways to go. I think the good momentum going into Fort Worth and these rodeos can really make a difference in a guy’s season. I think it’s always good to have confidence.”

Tomlinson, who holds the NFR average record on 10 head, echoes that the confidence their start to 2026 has given them can set up the rest of their season.

“Last year I told myself I wanted to try to win as much as I could in the winter and treat it like I was on the bubble, trying to make the NFR,” Tomlinson, 25, said. “Because people don’t realize how big the winter is, and if you can get a big jump on ’em in the winter, it makes the summer so much more fun and easier than trying to stack up money out there.”

Marathon in Denver

Tomlinson and Payne didn’t exactly get off on the right foot in the Mile High City. They were 9.8 in the first round of their bracket, due to a leg on the heel side. The top three in each bracket on two head advance to the Semifinals in Denver, so when they entered their second run fifth in their bracket, they admittedly thought they would be headed home. They decided to stay aggressive, aiming to win money in the overall round. The bracket fell apart, and their 4.2-second run was well enough to advance them to the semifinals and nab a $3,327-a-man check out of the overall round.

They came back to the third and final semifinals and pocketed $3,816 a man for the win with a 4.6-second run and punched their tickets to the short round.

“Short round was actually tough,” Payne, 27, said. “4.0 was winning It. I think some kind of mid-4 was maybe winning third or fourth. So in that situation, you kind of want to try to win first at least. There’s not much of a gap there if you do try to safety up; 4.8 might not win very much. So we were last out, which is an advantage, and we knew we had a good steer. Tanner’s very aggressive, so that kind of makes my part easy as far being fast enough.”

Their 3.5 took top honors for $5,586 apiece, as well as etched their names in the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo history books.

“That’s always a cool feeling,” Payne said. “Anytime you win first is really cool, but that situation–being last out and still had to spank it on one to win the rodeo. And 3.5, that’s fast. I’ve been 3.5 a few times, but I think 3.5 is as fast as I’ve ever been.”

Tomlinson heavily credits Payne for the win, as well as his equine counterpart “Marshall.”

“I know he is older, but the way he can score and get across the line and set the steers up and face, I was telling Taylor (his girlfriend) the other day, Coleby, with how fast he threw at Denver, there’s not many horses that can go from turning the steer straight and then facing that fast,” Tomlinson said. “Any other horses, you’ll be 4.0, 4.1 or somewhere around there. The 3.5 was all the heel shot and the face. It takes an athlete to be able to finish right there as fast as Coleby threw.”

Make no mistake–the gelding registered Missn Cowboy Sioux deserves his praises. Marshall made a miraculous colic recovery in late 2024, yet looks as if he never missed a beat. In 2026, Marshall will get the call in the winter and then some much-deserved time off.

“I’m going to ride him at The American, God willing San Antonio and everything, but after that he’s going to stay home,” Tomlinson said. “I’m going to ride him in the winter and all those big stuff, then I’m not going to haul him anymore and save him for the NFR. He feels better than he’s ever felt before. He literally, it’s all Marshall right now. It’s making it so easy on me. If we keep clicking like that, we should rack up the money this winter for sure. I mean, he was on his deathbed and they told me to put him down. To be able to come back, I think he’s one of the best horses there is by far. I think he’s underrated.”

Payne has an easy horse choice, too: 2025 AQHA/PRCA Heel Horse of the Year Cut Off My Spots, aka “Coon.”

“Anything this winter, anything big, Coon is getting the call, as usual,” Payne said. “Anything that matters, I’m going to be on Coon, for the most part.”

New to 2026, but not totally new

Tomlinson and Payne find themselves inside the top five of the 2026 PRCA world standings with $20,767.94 and $17,619.29, respectively. The two young guns are hopeful we’ll see more runs like that 3.5 throughout the rest of the year.

“We’ve jackpotted, and we’re just long-time friends, so we got a good connection,” Tomlinson said. “I was telling them in our interview at Denver, I think you can put two talented people together but without the chemistry and the fun with it, that’s what makes team roping so dangerous is when you’re having fun and the chemistry is there.”

That connection has long been building. Though a new team in 2026, Tomlinson and Payne have roped plenty of steers together over the years. When Tomlinson first cracked out as a header on the ProRodeo scene, he and Payne partnered up for the fall. Though they ended up with other partners since then, they’ve made enough runs together to know what to expect, and the run feels exactly how Payne always pictured it would.

“We did good together, but we both didn’t know anything that is required to rodeo,” Payne said with a laugh. “We both took advantage of getting with some guys that had been there, done it, and I wouldn’t trade that for either one of us. Tanner got with Patrick and it happened for him faster than it did me. But now I feel like we’re more established and know the right way to do things and when to go where–all the business side of things. back then we were very, very green. We roped good together–We always have. But in the meantime, over the years, I mean we’ve practiced a bunch. We’ve just made a lot of runs together, so it doesn’t feel like we’re trying to figure each other out.”