WUXI, China - The US junior men's compound squad made history this morning at the 2013 World Archery Youth Championships, with three top five-finishes and a combined team score that shattered the previous world record. The trio the record by 29 points, to set a new world record team qualification score of 2111.
Alex Wifler (Chicago, Ill.), who has only been competitive in the compound division for a few months after a hand injury made shooting recurve impossible, rocked qualifications today with a 708 to seal his spot in first heading into elimination matches.
With just a few points on either side, Bridger Deaton (Pella, Iowa) took second over current senior world champion, Stephan Hansen (NED) while teammate Danny Button (Monona, Wis.) finished 5th; all three US archers will have byes through to the 1/16th elimination.
The junior compound women also qualified first as a team. Kailey Johnston (Dublin, Ga.) led the pack, finishing fifth individually and qualifying first for mixed team rounds with Wifler. Paige Pearce (Red Bluff, Calif.) and Lexi Keller (Omro, Wis.) finished 11th and 17th respectively.
Daniel McLaughlin (Chula Vista, Calif.) was the top performer from the US recurve junior men's team, finishing 10th with a solid 1300. Tough competition, Olympian Gael Prevost (FRA) and three competitors from Korea took the top four positions. Teammates Jeremiah Cusick and Sean McLaughlin (Chula Vista, Calif.) tied to finish 31st and 32nd respectively. The team is seeded 5th and will have a good shot at medal matches.
The
recurve junior women's field was also dominated by Korea, however Team USA's
Mackenzie Brown (Chula Vista, Calif.) finished 8th to secure her
safely into the 1/16th elimination. Lanola Pritchard (Chula Vista,
Calif.) locked into the 16th seed while teammate Ariel Gibilaro
(Chula Vista, Calif.) qualified 28th. The women performed well
enough to rank 3rd as a team and are favored to medal as the team
competition advances.
Competition resumes tomorrow with cadet qualification rounds. Live scores and complete detailed score reports for each archer can be found here. Follow USA Archery on Facebook and twitter for updates and photos from the field.
Some information attributed to World Archery Communications.
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