LAS VEGAS, Nevada. – Casey Kaufhold is no stranger to success, and certainly not at the USA Archery Indoor Nationals Final, with the recurve women’s world number three victorious in every edition since 2019, while Brady Ellison will be in Las Vegas as the reigning champion in the men’s competition.
The year that Kaufhold was defeating Erin Mickelberry to win gold at the then-named U.S. National Indoor Championship Final six years ago, Ellison was beating Glen Thomas to gold at the same event.
And while Trenton Cowles (2022) and Jack Williams (2023) have won the recurve men’s competition, Kaufhold remains the archer to beat on the women’s side.
Cowles is absent from this year’s competition, but Williams will be eager for a repeat of his 2023 success. He was silver medalist in 2024 and faces Jack Krengel in his first match on Wednesday morning.
A regular on the U21 podium at USAT events in 2024, Krengel is one of four Texas A&M archers competing at the Indoor Nationals Final, alongside Alex Gilliam (recurve), Catalina GNoriega (recurve) and Sawyer Sullivan (compound).
Gilliam was bronze medalist last year. He begins against 16-year-old debutant and second seed Caelan Shanklin, who is the surprise package from this year’s Indoor Nationals.
Ellison starts his bid for gold in Vegas against Joey Huey, the 2023 AAE Arizona Cup winner in recurve U21 men.
The men’s lineup is completed by Christian Stoddard against Nicholas D’Amour. Stoddard was the bronze medalist in 2023 and also qualified for the Indoor Nationals Final last year. D’Amour was silver medalist at the 2024 U.S. Open, where he lost to Ellison.
Of those looking to end Kaufhold’s grip on the recurve women’s division will be three archers who have lost in the gold medal match. Eunice Choi was the silver medalist in 2022, GNoriega took second in 2023, with Alex Zuleta-Visser the 2024 runner-up.
Zuleta-Visser and GNoriega meet in the quarterfinals, with Choi facing Akshara Vijay, the 2023 U.S. Open gold medalist. Kaufhold starts her defense against Olivia Martin.
The recurve women’s competition will include the three female team members from the 2024 Olympic Games. As well as Kaufhold and GNoriega, the third archer in the trio, Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez, will also be in Vegas. She is the number two seed, and her quarterfinal opponent is 15-year-old Jessimi Lyu.
Vijay made her debut at the Indoor Nationals Final in 2024. Others present 12 months ago include Kaufhold, GNoriega, Zuleta-Visser, Mucino-Fernandez. Choi returns for the first time since winning silver in 2022. Lyu missed out on reaching last year’s competition by the slenderest of margins. Her score of 1,135 placed her 11th overall after Indoor Nationals, just one point behind Riley Marx who took the eighth and final place at the Final and two behind seventh seed Zuleta-Visser. Martin, like Lyu, will be making her first appearance at the Indoor Nationals Final.
Elimination rounds through the bronze medal matches will be followed by live coverage of the gold medal matches on USA Archery's YouTube channel, starting at 10am PT.-3.jpg)
