HARRISONBURG, Virginia - The U.S. National Outdoor Collegiate Championships (NOCC) came to a close today, with individual champions crowned in eight competitive categories. 254 archers from 34 different schools and colleges competed at the inaugural event, with strong team pride evident in everything from uniforms to banners and school flags.
History was made by many of the competitors over the weekend's events, who earned first-ever team and individual titles for their schools - or in some cases, clinched multiple medals in team and individual events. All of the competitors are part of USA Archery's Collegiate Archery Program.
In the compound categories, the big winner was the University of South Carolina, a team headlined by Team USA archers Carli Cochran and Garrett Abernethy, both of whom won gold medals in their respective matches. Silver and bronze went to Daniel Suter (James Madison University) and Bryce Bason (Lock Haven University) for the men, respectively. For the compound women, it was Columbia University's Julie Hoffman taking silver, and Emmanuel College's Claire Estrada winning bronze.
Sungwoo Shin of Atlantic Cape Community College was crowned the recurve men's champion, with University of Connecticut's Eliot Simon earning the silver medal. Curtis Balusek of Georgia Institute of Technology rounded out the podium with the bronze. Branduin Stroud of the University of California - Berkeley earned a gold medal of her own in the recurve women's category, edging out silver medalist Katie Alexander; Cassandra Pelton of Georgia Southern University won bronze.
The barebow category saw strong competition from Kelton Cheng, the top qualifier who was eventually crowned champion of the men's category today; he hails from the University of California - San Diego and earned that school's first national championship title. Daniel Allen and Roger Ho, of Georgia Southern University and the University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA), respectively, clinched silver and bronze. Megan Larson of UCLA won the barebow women's gold medal, while Sophia Jung of Stanford University earned silver. Bronze went to Sandra Childress of the University of Arizona.
Bowhunter division competitors should keep an eye on fourth-ranked Camille Silverman, who took the women's gold medal today on behalf of host school James Madison University. Kendel Baier of Penn College was the silver medalist, while Erin Formiller, shooting for Michigan State University, won the bronze. For the men's group, it was Penn College's Tyler Schoonover who claimed the championship title. He was joined on the podium by silver medalist Jerry Knauth (Texas A&M University) and Aaron Stickman (JMU).
Complete results from the event are available at this link. Photos from #NOCC can be found at USA Archery's Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds. Tonight's banquet will recognize the winners of several different awards, including All-American Team and Collegiate Archery Program Coach of the Year.
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