PHOENIX, Arizona – The 2019 United States Archery Team (USAT) Qualifier Series began this morning with a 72-arrow qualification round to start the Arizona Cup events.
For the morning line, Brady and Toja Ellison and topped the recurve senior men and compound senior women’s brackets. Brady’s 688 put him 18 points clear the rest of the field. Toja’s 700 tied the USA’s Alexis Ruiz.
For Ruiz, today’s qualification garners not only positioning for brackets for tomorrow, but valuable points for the U.S. world team trials. “I just had to keep my focus and stay strong in the wind today but I’m happy it worked out,” commented Ruiz. “I love outdoors so I’ve been training for this event for the last two months. I am so excited, I’m ready for my first year on the world cup circuit. I’ve worked hard for this and I’m so ready.”
Also competing in the compound women’s division, Hannah Dickerson made her USAT series debut. On her first day of USA Archery competition, Dickerson, an accomplished 3D archer commented: “I actually really loved it, having this experience. My arrows made things a little tricky in the wind but I went out there, did my best and let them fly. My dream is to be on the USA team so I plan on making it to all the USATs; I’ll be in Newberry and SoCal.”
Gary Yamaguchi took the lead for the recurve masters men with a 655, despite spending the day with one leg on a scooter as he recovers from surgery: “It was a great day; it’s a little bit more work to go to the bale and back, but the masters always have fun. We are competitive, we all want to win, but it’s not the end of the world if we don’t. I didn’t compete in USAT last year and I missed it a lot so I’m going for it again this year.” Yamaguchi’s son, Nathan, posted a 653, sitting 11th for the senior men, just two points behind his dad’s score, which was also 24 points clear the rest of the masters’ division.
The Arizona Cup also featured a classification event for para archers the past few days. Newly classified Emma Rose Ravish made her USAT event debut with her first experience shooting 70 meters in competition. Crushing the recurve open women’s division, Ravish shared: “It was a little stressful and overwhelming, but overall it was amazing, it was a fun time. I’m looking forward to everything that’s coming ahead, everyone has been so welcoming and I’m looking forward to learning from all the people here and just having a good time and getting better.”
Following the selection of the recurve team for the 2019 Pan American Games and World Archery Championships, the compound and Para teams will be nominated on Monday. Today’s qualification round begins the third stage of their trials process.
Casey Kaufhold, who dominated the recurve women’s competition in the Trials all last week, continued strong today and finished just one point shy of top qualifier Amy Jung’s 634. The Netherlands’ Mike Schloesser was the compound senior men’s top qualifier with a 711, ahead of the USA’s Jesse Clayton, who posted a 707.
Stay up to date with the action with Live Scores, Current Trials Standings and Daily Photo Albums. Join the conversation with #ArizonaCup and follow USA Archery on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more from the event. The schedule for tomorrow’s competition is available here.
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