Look at the Leaderboard and Hear from Competitors at the CTEC Ironman and Jr. Ironman Championship

While at the Cinch Timed Event Championship, we caught up with ….. to learn more about the competition known as the Ironman of ProRodeo

The final five runs of the CTEC take place today in the fifth round at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma. It will be a showdown of the best all-around timed-event cowboys in the game, and Taylor Santos enters in the lead. He has roped, wrestled and tied 20 animals in a cumulative time of 280.4 seconds.

“It’s been a blast so far,” said Santos, a fourth-generation rodeo cowboy from Creston, California, and first-time CTEC competitor. “It’s a marathon. We’ve got 20 head in the books, and I’m looking forward to the next five.

“They draw you good stock, and they’re going to draw you a few you just have to get by. It’s just taking one at a time, not being in a hurry, but not safetying up too much where you make mistakes. You just want to make aggressive practice runs.

“I’ve got great help here with Colton Campbell, who’s a ranching guy from Oregon that heels great. I’ve got Tyler Waters heading for me and helping me get my ropes tied on. I practice with those guys,” Santos continued. “We’ve been getting ready and putting in the work for it. We try to minimize the mistakes and make the best runs we can make on the stock they draw us.”

The practice seems to be paying off. Santos earned $3,000 for his third-round win Saturday afternoon and has a 4.8-second lead over 2017 CTEC titlist Jess Tierney going into the finals.

The best round of the weekend so far though was Saturday night’s fourth round, when Clay Smith posted a 53.4-second total time to pocket his first paycheck of the weekend. That speedy round pushed him up to sixth overall.

“I just need to have no mistakes tomorrow and hopefully draw good like we did today,” said Smith, the two-time reigning heading world champion from Broken Bow, Oklahoma. “The draw is big everywhere we go, but here a guy needs good steers and good help to get you through the events you don’t do all the time.”

Smith first appeared in this field of elite cowboys in 2013 as a replacement for an injured contestant. A year later, he finished second. He’s been a contender every year since, but he’s never taken the CTEC title at the Lazy E Arena. He’s hoping that changes today.

In the Jr. Ironman, it’s been the Tee McLeod show. The young cowboy from Waldeck, Saskatchewan, won both of the first two go-rounds, winning $1,500, and enters the finals with a a 8.2-second lead on No. 2 man, reigning champion Tyler West.

Here’s a breakdown of Saturday’s results from the Timed Event Championship and Jr. Ironman Championship, as well as a look at the leaderboards going into the finals:

CINCH TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP

Third round: 1. Taylor Santos, 56.6 seconds | 2. Marcus Theriot, 58.6 | 3. Seth hall, 61.8

Fourth round: 1. Clay Smith, 53.4 seconds | 2. Haven Meged, 65.2 | 3. Jess Tierney, 66.4

Average leaders: 1. Taylor Santos, 280.4 seconds | 2. Jess Tierney, 285.2 | 3. Seth Hall, 294.6 | 4. Paul David Tierney, 299.7 | 5. Marcus Theriot, 303.5

IRONMAN CHAMPIONSHIP

Second Round: 1. Tee McLeod, 36.1 seconds | 2. Tyler West, 39.5 | 3. Quade Hiatt, 40.3

Average Leaders: 1. Tee McLeod, 75.4 seconds | 2. Tyler West, 83.6 | 3. Quade Hiatt, 89.2