LANCASTER, Pennsylvania - At the U.S. National Indoor Championships in Lancaster, Pennsylvania last weekend, 13 year-old Casey Kaufhold shot the highest score of any woman in U.S. history at any age, breaking the senior, junior and cadet national records with an outstanding 1162 out of 1200. Her best half tied the national record out of 600 with 584, and then the next day in practice, she beat that with a 586.
"I had shot that score before in practice so I knew I could do it, I just had to keep my head in the game to finally get it," shared Kaufhold on her record performance. "It's pretty crazy and hard to believe. I was just so happy. I got off the line and I knew I did it so I just burst into tears and hugged all my friends. They were so happy for me and I was just so grateful they were there to experience it with me."
The young teen, Casey Kaufhold, comes from quite the archery legacy, with parents Rob and Carole Kaufhold, the owners of Lancaster Archery Supply, and her brother Connor is also a highly competitive archer. However, Kaufhold is blazing her own trail in the sport, making the World Archery Youth Championships team last summer and finishing first in the cadet rankings for the 2018 U.S. Archery Team.
Next up for Kaufhold is likely the U.S. National Indoor Championships Final. While several locations still must compete before invitations are finalized, Kaufhold is currently in first with her national record score and she is looking forward to the competition. This would not be Kaufhold's first time on a major senior archery stage as she has had top finishes at the Lancaster Classic the past few years.
"It will be kind of like the Classic all over again, which is really exciting because I always love shooting at the Classic up on the big stage and the adrenaline rush you get because you know you want to win. You just have to work for it so it would just be such a cool experience to do that again," commented Kaufhold.
Long term, Kaufhold is looking ahead to Tokyo 2020 with ambitious Olympic dreams. To get ready, Kaufhold plans to compete on the senior stage much more this year. She added: "I'll be starting with Arizona Cup as a senior. It's a goal of mine this year to make World Cups because then I could potentially be on the same team as Brady [Ellison] and Mackenzie [Brown], which would be such a cool experience to have."
Kaufhold shared that Olympians Brady Ellison and Mackenzie Brown are her biggest role models in the sport: "They are probably the most inspiring archers out there and they always have a way to them that they're confident and ready to go." On being able to compete at the same level as her role models, shooting scores near identical to Brown's on several occasions, Kaufhold added: "It means so much to me that I'm at that skill level and I know that I can do it. It's a big confidence booster for me to know that I can achieve what they can."
Kaufhold is great at keeping herself motivated and passionate about growing in the sport: "I just love having goals to work towards and the motivation of the competition; everyone who is trying to shoot new national records just like I am and who is working just as hard for it."
One big lesson Kaufhold has already learned at such a young age is to respect the achievements of her role models, but to be her own person and look up to who she wants to be: "When there is someone who I admire, I always used to try to be like them, but I realized that I don't have to be exactly like them, I can still be myself and still accomplish everything that they can do and it's always good to have that as motivation."
The future is bright for Kaufhold! Follow her archery journey in the U.S. Indoor National Championships with results here. The Final, which will be held on March 9th, will be available here via a Live Stream presented by Lancaster Archery Supply.
Photo: Rob Kaufhold
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