CHULA VISTA, California – The second United States Archery Team Qualifier Event wrapped with exciting head to head gold medal matches for the senior divisions this morning and youth match play through the early afternoon. Archers enjoyed the return to competition as the race for team selection points heats up.
The senior finals, available to watch online, saw archery power couple Braden Gellenthien and Tanja Jensen capture the gold. Denmark’s Jensen posted the highest qualification score of the entire weekend with a 701 and then smoked a 149-146 victory in today’s final over Paige Pearce to earn the big win. Toja Ellison finished with the bronze with a strong 148 over Cassidy Cox’s 144.
Gellenthien took on Tate Morgan for the compound men’s title – neither giving up a point until the fourth of five ends. Gellenthien closed out the round with a 149-147 win, while Paul Tedford claimed bronze 145-138 over Alex Mueller.
Top qualifiers Mackenzie Brown and Casey Kaufhold dominated the recurve women’s competition all weekend to face off for gold. Kaufhold emerged victorious in a 7-1 final. Erin Mickelberry clinched bronze in a tight 6-4 final over up-and-coming talent Aileen Yu.
The recurve men’s bracket saw great upsets in matchplay and a young finals field with no archers over the age of 20. 18-year-olds Trenton Cowles and Josef Scarboro shot for gold in an exciting, neck and neck match. The two split the first three sets and finally reached a single arrow shoot off, where Scarboro took the win – his first senior USAT gold finish. Seth McWherter cleaned a 6-0 bronze win over Andrew Park.
Stephen Vickers climbed a stiff recurve master men’s bracket yesterday, winning gold from a 7th place seed in qualification over top scorer Brent Allen. Thomas Hardin heads home with bronze. Taytana Muntyan had another stellar event in the recurve master women’s competition, winning gold in a shoot off with Melissa McAvoy while Lee Ford Faherty clinched bronze.
Tim Gillingham also had another dominant performance this weekend, scoring high to top qualification and finishing with gold over Brian Cronin. Deanna Cronin also finished with silver behind the nation’s top compound master woman, Alanna Dunaway. Kenneth Brunko and Marsha Quan rounded out the compound master podiums with bronze finishes.
The recurve cadets, once again, had the largest competition field this weekend. Scores were super tight for the men, and some close and exciting matches shook things up in today’s events. 7th seed Hanwul Lee pulled out a 6-4 win over 5thseed William Lee in the gold final, while top qualifier Doheyon Kim finished with bronze. Anessa Williams had a standout performance, climbing from 16th to finish with silver behind Michelle Ahn. Emma Kim claimed the women’s bronze.
Sawyer Sullivan held his reign over the compound cadet men’s events, qualifying first and claiming gold with a wide berth over Foster Jones and Isaac Sullivan. Mackenzie Weatherspoon, who also topped qualification, took her first USAT gold, climbing the women’s podium alongside Amanda Branch and Rachel Smith.
The only shakeup among the four compound junior men competing was in the gold final when 2nd seed Elek Miller came back to win 144-142. Kolin Tersey finished with bronze. 2nd seeded compound junior woman Rachel Withers also outscored top qualifier Kate Iodice for gold, while Kinely Hetletved clinched bronze.
Isabella Frederick, who has had a commanding performance this season, also reigned strong with a top qualifying score and a 6-0 gold win over Richelle Shim. Gabrielle Sasai took bronze. Gabe Anderson had a breakout weekend, topping qualification and finishing with gold over Benjamin Hur, while Noah Cagle won out for bronze.
Complete results from today’s events and live scores throughout the weekend are available on Between Ends. Check out our online photo gallery and join the conversation with #SoCalShowdown.
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