Chula Vista, CA - USA Archery has selected the 2012 Paralympic Team for Archery. Seven archers are now London-bound, following a rigorous Trials process that included a double 70 meter ranking round and round robin match play.
Jeff Fabry (CA), who qualified his spot for London by virtue of his finish at the World Archery Para Championships, will be joined by Matt Stutzman (IA) and Dugan Denton (MT) in the Compound Men Open sport classification. Paralympians Jerry Shields (FL) in Compound Men W1, Eric Bennett (AZ) and Lee Ford (GA) in Standing Recurve, and Russell Wolfe (VA) in Recurve Men W2 will round out the U.S. Paralympic Team.
The Paralympic Team Trials saw tough competition between many archers with substantial international experience, including Chuck Lear (MO), Steve Bosson (UT), Natalie Wells (CA), Jonathan Mize (IN), Michael Lukow (TX), Aaron Cross (MN) and D'Arce Hess (CA).
The second nomination shoot of the Olympic Team Trials also concluded today, though the Olympic Team will not be decided until after the third nomination shoot, scheduled for June 1-3 in Colorado Springs, CO. The second nomination shoot was a six-day event including practice, and featured a ranking round and fifteen round robin matches, followed by a cut to eight archers per gender. After the cut, archers shot an elimination round and seven additional round robin matches.
Following today's round robins, there was some movement within the ranks, though point totals will triple at the next Trials event, making it difficult to predict who will ultimately prevail in the grueling Trials process. For the men, Brady Ellison (AZ) leads the pack with 82 points, followed by Jake Kaminski (NY) with 72, Jacob Wukie (OH) with 58, Joe Fanchin (CA) with 53.25, Butch Johnson (CT) with 48.25, Dan Schuller (PA) with 42.25, Thomas Stanwood (MA) with 39.75 and Vic Wunderle (NC) with 38.75.
On the women's side, Miranda Leek (IA) has garnered a solid point lead with 75.75; she is followed by Jennifer Nichols (WY) with 69, Khatuna Lorig (CA) with 66.5, Heather Koehl (WI) with 58.75, Kristin Braun (CA) with 51, Lori Cieslinski (MI) with 40, Mackenzie Brown (TX) with 36.5, and Holly Stover (MI) with 35.
The Paralympic Team Trials, along with the Olympic Team Trials, were hosted by Roadrunner Archery Club at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA. Next up for eight Olympic hopefuls, along with several of the country's top compound archers, is the second stage of the World Cup, next week in Antalya, Turkey.
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