COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Elimination day at the Mathews Texas Shootout saw surprising upsets in tough brackets with some intermittently windy conditions. The senior podiums, in particular, saw new faces take top honors after impressive wins.
18 year old Alexis Ruiz (Glendale, Arizona) won the compound senior women's division on a field with not only the best U.S. shooters, but top international competitors from Denmark and Slovenia. To take the win, Ruiz ranked 5th in qualification, and outshot archers including Jamie Van Natta, and podium finishers Danielle Reynolds and Robyn Repp. Holding back happy tears, Ruiz commented: "Everything was going good, I had a rough start, but I figured just keep making the best shots I can and if it's good enough, it's there, otherwise I'll just go back and change some more and keep working. I shot against a lot of amazing girls and I can't believe it, it's crazy."
Next up for Ruiz is the World Archery Youth Championships in Argentina next weekend. She added that this tournament was great prep and definitely help build up her confidence to bring home the gold for Team USA!
Texas A&M Aggie alum Matt Requa (Houston, Texas) was also thrilled to take his first senior USAT gold on his alma mater's turf. After a 4-0 defecit to top qualifier Brady Ellison, Requa came back to take the win 6-4 in three straight sets. He credits his mental game for combatting that pressure: "Just shoot your shot - the ends before don't matter. If you shoot a 10, just keep putting them in the ten ring," commented Requa.
Requa was in shock after the match. He added: "I'm really happy, I was really happy to win, it was great to be back here and win on this field. It's been a long time since an Aggie has won the senior men's division, so ecstatic is an understatement for how I feel."
USA Archery is unveiling a new photo website this weekend. While still a work in progress on uploading past archives, photos from this weekend will be available at www.usaarchery.smugmug.com. Results are available here. For more, follow USA Archery on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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