LANSING, Michigan - The World Archery Youth Championships - U.S. Team Trials began scoring today with 72 arrows of qualification for all divisions. With nearly 200 of the top youth archers from around the country competing for 24 spots on the U.S. team that will head to Rosario, Argentina in October, competition was fierce.
After today's qualification round, the top eight archers in each division will advance to round robin matches tomorrow. The cadet divisions were especially large and competitive; an additional eight compound cadet men and eight compound women were within ten points of making that cut as scores were tight across the fields.
Cold temperatures in the morning were accompanied by tricky and changing winds. Jack Williams (Irvine, California) and Amy Jung (Los Altos, California) are in their first year at the Resident Athlete program in Chula Vista, California and took the top qualification spots for the recurve cadets. "The first round went a little rocky, but I judged the wind a little better the second half so it ended up pretty good," shared Williams.
On the support of the Resident Athlete program in preparation for today's competition, Jung shared: "I definitely feel a lot more prepared because we're shooting a lot more arrows than I normally would at home and we have the whole facility and staff to help us. I feel more confident coming out here." Jung was on target with several of the other top cadet recurve women, who had tight scores that came down to the final end to determine ultimate ranking. She added: "I definitely felt like the other girls shooting well really challenged me to shoot my best to keep up with them."
Savannah Vanderwier (Sheffield, Texas) was the top compound cadet qualifier with a solid lead over the entire day: "The wind was pretty tricky, it kept changing," she shared. "I focused on making sure to shoot strong shots; it's easy in this wind to get whipped around and get loose. But, I came here to shoot my best and then if I made the top eight, great, but if not, to cheer on the other girls; I made it though, so I'm super happy."
Anna Miscione (Ramona, California)) who was the top recurve junior women's qualifier, has recently seen success on the senior Archery World Cup team and was part of the previous World Archery Youth Championship team and shoots for the James Madison University archery team. She was also a frontrunner throughout the entire competition: "I had a lot of fun today. I'm doing all archery things all the time this summer and really enjoying it." When asked what she is working towards in archery, she added: "I think my future in archery is going to be the Olympics; it's what I'm always working towards."
Competition resumes tomorrow with round robin matches on Sunday for the top eight archers in each division. Results from today are available here. Updated standings for the Trials and tomorrow's live scores can be found here. For more, follow USA Archery on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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