CHULA VISTA, Cali. – The third of four events in the United States Archery Team (USAT) Qualifier Series takes us to the Easton Archery Center of Excellence in Chula Vista, CA, for the SoCal Showdown.
For the third USAT event of 2023, a record number of athletes will be on show, starting Friday morning and finishing on Sunday afternoon. Following all-time high numbers for the Arizona Cup in April and Gator Cup in May, this year’s SoCal Showdown will reach new heights, also.
There was a record 640 involved in last year’s SoCal Showdown. Twelve months on, and that number has soared by almost 100, with 738 listed when registration closed.
Casey Kaufhold returns to defend her title in the recurve women’s division. She’s taken gold two of the last three years. The 19-year-old also has the Arizona Cup and Gator Cup to her name this year.
Others back hoping to repeat their 2022 success include Brady Ellison (recurve men), James Lutz (compound men), Marcus Cooley (barebow men), Susan Bock (recurve 50+ women), Tim Gillingham (compound 50+ men), Deanna Cronin (compound 50+ women) and Phyllis Shipman (barebow 50+ women).
Gillingham is aiming to complete his medal haul in 2023 with a gold, having taken bronze in Arizona and silver in Florida. Cronin has a gold and a silver thus far.
Since defeating Lexi Keller to win gold in 2019 in the compound women’s division, Paige Pearce has collected a hat-trick of silver the last three SoCal. She was edged out by Tanja Gellenthien at last month’s Gator Cup. Those two are among a strong field in Chula Vista this week, and gold will again be on the minds of both ace archers.
Cool conditions are forecast for the three days of competition. The seniors finish a day earlier, as leading recurve and compound archers then head to Colombia for the World Cup Stage 3 in Medellin.
There’s also U18, U21, masters, and open divisions, spread out across three fields of this magnificent campus.
The U21 gold medal matches in recurve and compound will be broadcast live on Sunday from 2pm local time on USA Archery’s YouTube and Facebook channels, with commentator George Tekmitchov – a veteran of six Olympic Games – on the call.
You can keep up-to-date with all the latest scores and results on Between Ends, and there will be photo galleries from each day on USA Archery’s SmugMug account.
