Tomlinson and Graves Smash Team Roping Record With Round 6 Win

In one of the toughest rounds of team roping, records were broken.

Tanner Tomlinson | Nathan Meyer Photography

Records are made to be broken, and the 2025 National Finals Rodeo is not disappointing in that department. In the team roping, it has been a little chicken or feathers several nights but Round 6 was a barn burner.

The fourth team out saw a 3.5-second run on top of the leaderboard from Clint Summers and Jade Corkhill. That was fast, but it wasn't fast enough as it turned out. Team No. 4 had a little something for the crowd.

Tanner Tomlinson and Travis Graves brought the crowd to deafening decibels when they headed and heeled their steer in a mere 3.4 seconds—a very short night of work for a big check worth $36,668. The smoking run broke the round record that has been held since 2011 by none other than the King of Cowboys himself, Trevor Brazile and Patrick Smith.

The Duo Rakes In the Cash During 2025 NFR

Travis Graves | Nathan Meyer Photography

Tomlinson and Graves has earned checks in four of the first six rounds at this year's NFR. The pair came out strong in the first round when they stopped the clock at 5.7 seconds. It was just an ice breaker for the pair to get their feet on the ground and then they took off.

Round two was faster with a 4.2, followed up by a 4.4 in round three that was spoiled by a leg penalty to bring their total to 9.4. Round No. 4 resulted in a no-time and that was enough to light a fire in the Texas-Oklahoma team.

Round No. 5 earned the pair a second-place finish with a smoking 3.8-second run. For their work that deposited $28,980 in their world championship race bank.

Adding the round win on Tuesday evening brought their short week efforts so far to $82,799. The earnings are sure helping the journey toward gold buckles, but that is, in fact, a story in itself.

Tomlinson came into the NFR ranked No. 2 with $193,807 while his partner, Graves was ranked No. 5 with $159,518. Of course, it all depends on how everyone does for the remaining rounds but because there were several split teams throughout the course of the season, it is very possible that the 2025 World Champions in the team roping will not be a "team".

The average will likely determine the World Champions and right now where Tomlinson and Graves sit will not allow either to earn the title. As they say, "The night is young." Well in this case, "The NFR is young." Anything can happen and anything likely does happen in the team roping. So for now, fans will have to just sit on the edge of their seats and watch it all play out.

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