Summers and Corkill won The American 2026 in team roping on Saturday night at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, after surviving a long Championship Weekend that started with 15 qualifier teams and ended with one final run for the title.
The victory came at the end of The American Rodeo Championship Weekend, held May 22-23, 2026, when the qualifier teams roped in Friday night semifinals and the top five advanced to face five invited teams from the 2025 world standings on Saturday. Those 10 teams roped in the Showdown Round, the top four moved on to the Championship Round, and the final four teams made one more pass for the title. Each event winner at The American earned $100,000.
That path is what made this event different from a standard rodeo stop. The 15 qualifier teams reached Arlington through The American’s three regional finals in the West, East and Central, with each regional sending five teams to Championship Weekend. The invited teams from the 2025 world standings were there to chase The American title, but only the athletes who came through the qualifier system were eligible for the $2 million qualifier bonus.
The format gave Friday night, May 22, its first pressure point. The qualifier teams had to make their mark in semifinals before even reaching the Saturday rounds, where the field reset and the pace tightened again. By the time the final four teams came back for one last run, the event had moved from broad qualification to a single throw of the rope that decided the championship.
The American Rodeo aired live May 22-23 across Cowboy Channel, FS1, FS2 and FOX, with streaming available on Cowboy+ and YouTube. For Summers and Corkill, the result capped the only thing that mattered in Arlington: they won the title, and they did it on the sport’s biggest stage.
