Veteran Team Ropers Clutch NFR Average Victory in Final Round

After a hard-fought NFR, Ward and Long finish as 2025 NFR Average Champions

Andrew Ward and Jake Long | PRCA File Photo by Lara St Jacques

The 2025 NFR team roping was an absolute slug fest. While other events had clear winners emerging early in the finals, the team roping wasn't decided until the end of Round 10.

The race was so close, in fact, that when Andrew Ward and Jake Long ran their final steer, they weren't sure yet if they had won the world. When the dust settled on the final night in Vegas, Ward and Long took home the Round 10 win, the average title and the world title.

The pair was remarkably consistent during the finals. They only had one miss and one leg throughout the 10 rounds. Going into Round 10, Kolton Schmidt and Jonathan Torres were projected to win the average and the world title. However, the projected winners drew a tricky steer, and Schmidt missed, leaving the door wide open for Ward and Long.

Ward and Long finished in the average with 44.0 seconds on nine steers, which cleared the 2nd-place team by almost six seconds.

Ward and Long's Journey to the World Championship Stage

Jake Long and Andrew Ward | Nathan Meyer Photography

Long is no stranger to the NFR. He qualified for the first time in 2010, roping with Brady Tryan, and the pair finished fourth in the average. Since then, Long has added another 14 NFR qualifications to his resume, along with another average title in 2024, roping behind Clint Summers.

Ward came on the NFR team roping scene much later than Long, but since he qualified for the first time in 2020, he hasn't missed an NFR. At the 2023 NFR, Ward and his partner, Buddy Hawkins, placed in seven out of 10 rounds and finished No. 4 in the average. It took Ward to No. 3 in the world standings, his best so far in his career.

Ward also won the NFR average title back in 2021, roping with Hawkins. The pair set an NFR average recond of 54.7 seconds on 10 steers (later broken by Tanner Tomlinson and Patrick Smith). Coming into the 2025 NFR, Ward and Long were destined to be a threat in the average race.

The pair had a great regular season as well, with major wins at the Calgary Stampede and Greeley Stampede. They also had a massive final month of the regular season, with more than $32,000 in earnings in September.

This dominant finish to their regular season became a huge factor, as they edged out former world champions, Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira, by less than $6,000 to win the world title.

Ward and Long's consistency and their ability to get round wins when needed make them an exciting duo to watch. Hopefully, we will see the pair back next year at the Thomas & Mack.

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