New Team Roping Duo, Crites and Ashford, Seek First NFR Qualification Together

The two went to the NFR separately early in their careers, but have since teamed up and are now working their way to the top of the world standings.

Ross Ashford | Yfat Yossifor / San Angelo Standard-Times

Team roping is the only rodeo event where athletes have to count on another person in order to succeed. Relying on a partner can be hard in the arena, and finding the right fit is just as important. Header Brye Crites and heeler Ross Ashford have both been to the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) on separate occasions and are teamed up in 2026.

New Duo Enters the Arena

This season, the two decided they might work better as a pair and took a leap of faith to partner up. It seems it has paid off as they are now on quite a roll heading into summer rodeos. Crites last entered the Thomas & Mack arena in 2022, where he finished No. 15 with partner Jake Orman. Ashford qualified in 2021, where he finished at No. 14 with Clint Summers.

Since then, each cowboy has roped with multiple different partners, but hasn’t managed to have the same season run as they did early in the decade. Now, as a team, they are each vying for their second trip to the NFR.

The duo is coming in with something to prove since they decided to team up. After never rodeoing together before, they have steadily worked their way to the top of the standings, Crites at No. 6 for headers and Ashford at No. 5 for heelers.

Early Season Wins

They began the year strong, placing second at the Sandhills Stock Show & Rodeo in Odessa, Texas. They made great runs at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver, Colo., and the Clark County Fair & Rodeo in Logandale, Nev., securing checks at both rodeos.

Their best run of the season happened at La Fiesta De Los Vaqueros in Tucson, Ariz., where they picked up their first champion title as a duo. Things kept rolling from there, as they tied for second place in the long round of Rodeo Corpus Christi, with a 3.7-second run, and earned a qualification for the final round.

Momentum continues to pick up for these two cowboys as they head into the summer months. They are consistently earning checks and finishing in the top five of every rodeo they rope at. After not having made it to the biggest stage in professional rodeo in the last few years, this team seems determined to change that.

Their fellow team ropers better keep their eye on these two underdogs as the season heads into the summer.