United Mentality Lifts Team Ropers Derrick Begay, Colter Todd Back to NFR

Thanks to a late season surge, including success at the 377 Last Hoorah Roping on the final day of the regular season, the veteran tandem are headed back to Las Vegas this December.

Header Derrick Begay (right) and heeler Colter Todd (left) took an unlikely path to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo but they got there together. | Click Thompson/PRCA photo

Colter Todd’s mind was made up. Despite plenty of success during the 2026 Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association regular season, the picture ahead of him was fairly bleak. 

Todd tried to call it quits several times late in the schedule. He took nearly two weeks off in early September, only to return for some late season events with partner Derrick Begay.

Todd’s goal when he came back was to help his friend earn enough to qualify for the high-paying Cinch Playoffs Governor’s Cup in Sioux Falls, S.D., at the end of the schedule – even if he was a long shot to secure enough PRCA Playoff Series points to get in. 

They kept picking up checks and inching closer. After a fourth-place finish at the Roughrider Cup in Mandan, N.D., reality became official – Begay was in and Todd was out. 

Todd had accepted his fate. Begay, on the other hand, had a different mentality.

While untacking their horses after the finals in Mandan, Begay said out loud exactly what Todd didn’t want to hear but knew might be coming – he wasn’t going to Sioux Falls. 

“I was mad at him,” Todd quipped. “He told me he was thinking about it, and I told him that was the dumbest thing ever.”

Begay let things sit, opting for silence rather than further discussion. An official conversation to settle matters never really happened. Not long after, the duo was back in the arena. 

“I kind of had my mind made up. People were calling me asking me what I was going to do (at the Governor’s Cup), and I was just kind of going, ‘I don’t know yet. I’m going to sleep on it,’” Begay said. “The next day, he flew home and I stayed with the rig. The next day after that was the entries for Sioux Falls. I think he already knew I wasn’t going. And I already knew I wasn’t going to. It was an easy decision.”

That choice proved to be the right one as Begay and Todd closed the 2026 regular season with a flourish, winning more than $12,250 over the final week. 

The critical moment came in Stephenville, Texas, on September 30, as the inaugural 377 Last Hoorah Team Roping event brought out a star-studded field of gold buckle contenders and those, like Todd, who were in need of one final push. In the opening round, Todd missed a leg on his heel catch, resulting in a penalty that pushed the duo well outside of earning a check. 

In the second go, he atoned for the miscue as their time of 4.4 seconds was the fastest of the round, yielding a $4,333 paycheck. While it was the only money they earned at the event, it was the most critical win of the final week.

The payout pushed Todd more than $5,000 ahead of Wyatt Cox in the PRCA Heeler World Standings and unofficially into the final qualifying spot for NFR at No. 15. Begay’s place in Las Vegas was already secure as he ended up No. 10 in the header race.

The standings are currently being audited for accuracy and will be made final in the coming days. 

It’s the third time since forming this alliance in 2023 that the duo has qualified for NFR together. They won the NFR average in 2023 while taking third in their respective world standings. In 2024, Begay qualified on his own while Todd just missed out by finishing 16th. Last year, they got back to Las Vegas, each finishing top 10.

The resolve to push to the finale was just something the pair wanted to do, even if it went unspoken. 

“When it was finally said and done that he was not going to go, I was like now the pressure is on. When your friend does something for you, when anybody does something for you on purpose, I feel like it means a lot,” Todd said of Begay’s decision to skip the Governor's Cup. “In team roping, you don’t want to let your friend or your partner or whoever is doing the sacrifice, you don’t let them down. It becomes a different type of pressure.”

For Begay, there was no path that took him to Sioux Falls unless his teammate was in the other box. 

While some of the sport’s best were prepping to battle for significant payouts in South Dakota, he and Todd were hitting rodeos in Texas, Utah and two in California before going back to Texas for the 377 Last Hoorah battle. 

It was a hectic, travel-heavy path that Begay was grateful to take with his longtime friend. After all, there was no place he’d rather be. 

“If I hadn’t gone with Colter, I would’ve had to live with that for the rest of my life and wonder what could’ve happened. I couldn’t do that. That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to go. I wanted to find out,” Begay said. “In this case, it worked out. Even if I had gone and didn’t win anything, I would still rather live with that decision than the other way.”