Chula Vista, CA - The Paralympic Team Trials for Archery had a cut to eight archers in one category today, and all archers were ranked according to performance in the event's double 72-arrow, 70-meter ranking round. In the Olympic Team Trials, the eight archers per gender shot an elimination match which awarded a significant number of points for wins.
Paralympic hopeful Matt Stutzman (IA) was the top qualifier in the Compound Men Open category with 1385 in the ranking round; archers earned bonus points for scores above a certain threshold as well as qualification score points, bringing Stutzman's total points to 9 for the event thus far. Following was Jonathan Mize (IN) with 1362 and 7 overall points; they were followed by Dugie Denton (MT) with 1353 and 5 total points.
Jeff Sena (CA) finished in the fourth spot, shooting a 1340 for 3.5 points; he is joined in the top eight by John Bellora (CA), with 1328 and 3 points; Andre Shelby (FL) with 1321 and 1.5 points; Joe Bailey (MI) with 1304 and 1 point, and Ken Park (WA) with 1300 and .5 points.
In the Recurve Standing Men category, it was Eric Bennett who led the pack with 1213 and 7 total points. He is followed by Michael Lukow (TX), shooting 1121 for 4 points; Travis Akin (TX) with 1121 and 4 points; Timothy Palumbo (NY) with 1118 and 2.5 points; and Steve Bosson (UT) with 923 and 2 points.
For the Recurve Standing Women, it's Lee Ford (GA) in the lead, shooting a 1056 for 6 total points. D'Arce Hess (CA) posted a 996 for 4 points, while Natalie Wells (CA) shot a 987 for 3 pionts. Rounding out the top four is Lori Dupree (TX) with a 713 and 2.5 points.
The Compound Men W1 category saw a strong performance from Jerry Shields (FL) with a 1246 and 9 points; Aaron Cross (MN), making a return to competition, shot a 1208 for 6 points. The category is completed by Chuck Lear (MO), shooting a 1201 for 4 points. Russell Wolfe (VA), the sole entrant in the Recurve Men W2 category, shot 1126 for 5 points.
All of the archers will compete in round robin match play tomorrow, which will finalize the rankings that will determine the Paralympic Archery Team for London. Jeff Fabry, a Paralympic medalist, has already qualified for the Paralympic Games thanks to his top three performance at the 2011 World Archery Para Championships.
The six open quota slots are divided among the five categories, including two quota slots for Compound Men Open, one for Compound Men W1, and one each for Recurve Standing Men, Recurve Standing Women and Recurve Men W1/W2.
For the Olympic Team Trials, the remaining Olympic hopefuls (eight per gender) competed today in an elimination round that featured one match at a time, under conditions similar to Olympic Round match play. The men competed first, with Joe Fanchin (CA), Jacob Wukie (OH), Jake Kaminski (CA) and Brady Ellison (AZ) advancing to the medal matches. Gold and silver went to Ellison and Kaminski, while Wukie won the bronze.
At day's end, Ellison continues to lead point totals with 62, followed by Kaminski with 53, Wukie with 44, Fanchin with 42.25, Butch Johnson (CT) with 40.25, Tom Stanwood (MA) with 33.75, Vic Wunderle (NC) with 33.75 and Dan Schuller (PA) with 33.25.
Miranda Leek (IA) managed to take a narrow point lead today for the women, after joining Jennifer Nichols (WY), Khatuna Lorig (CA) and Heather Koehl (WI) in the medal matches. Leek pulled off a gold medal victory over silver medalist Nichols; it was bronze for Lorig.
For point totals, Leek now has the lead going into tomorrow's final set of round robins, with 58.75. She is followed very closely by Nichols with 58, and Lorig rounds out the top three with 48.5. Koehl is fourth with 40.75, followed by Kristin Braun (CA) with 39, Lori Cieslinski (MI) with 34, Mackenzie Brown (TX) with 33.5, and Holly Stover (MI) with 28.
Following tomorrow's round robin matches, in which increased point totals are applied, the sixteen remaining athletes will travel to Colorado Springs for the final Olympic Trials event, June 1-3. There, the three men and three women who will comprise the team for London will be selected.
USA Archery is providing live updates via Twitter and updating standings as often as possible on the Team Selection Results page.
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