NEWBERRY, Fla. – Repeat winners, a state sweep and an incredible show of sportsmanship were among the highlights on the final day of competition at the 2025 Easton Foundations Gator Cup, the second of four events in the USAT Qualifier Series.
Olivia Dean needed a one arrow shootoff to retain her compound women’s title, with Liko Arreola settling for silver, as she did in 2024. Brian Way defeated Patrick Fisk in the gold medal match of barebow men for back-to-back Gator Cup success, Mark Williams – fresh from setting a new national record during qualification on Saturday – held onto his title in recurve 50+ men, as did Tamara Fontenot in compound 50+ women.
Williams defeated fellow-Floridian Ali Gungoraydinoglu in the gold medal match, though they were not the only Florida archers to medal at Gator Cup. Indeed, the entire podium for barebow 50+ women hail from the Sunshine State. Gold in that division went to Melissa McAvoy, with silver to Tracey Francis and bronze to Michelle O’Donnell.
Elsewhere, Patty Hoppe secured silver in compound 50+ women, as did Tracy Otto in the W1 Open category and Alex Zuleta-Visser in recurve women.
First place in the W1 Open was taken by Paralympic champion Jason Tabansky, with debutant Ryan Lindstrom claiming third.
There was a moment during the barebow women’s gold medal match, involving reigning champion Cindy Czako and top teenage talent Ava Jones, which epitomized not only the barebow community but the camaraderie within the sport of archery.
With the match finely balanced, Jones experienced equipment issues and was seen banging her bow.
She explained, “Something was rattling. I think it was just a set screw in my plunger.”
Without hesitation, Czako reached into her pocket and pulled out a tool, handing it to Jones in between ends, thereby allowing her opponent to remedy the issue and ultimately go on to win the match 7-3.
“That was amazing (from Cindy). She’s amazing,” Jones added.
The compound men’s division was stacked with talent, including the pair who met in the gold medal match, Mike Schloesser and Mathias Fullerton. Schloesser went into the contest as the top seed, having fired a world record-equaling 718 during qualification. As with the compound women’s decider, this one would also require a shootoff after both archers dropped just two points through 15 arrows. Schloesser would come out on top.
“If you have a good score, it doesn’t mean you’re going to win,” began Schloesser. “Everybody who comes to these events can certainly shoot a good 15 arrows. You really need to show you’re ‘A Game’ because the average level of compound men at these USAT events is insane.”
Catalina GNoriega went one better than last year, when she was defeated in the gold medal match by Jennier Mucino-Fernandez. Having overcome Casey Kaufhold in the semifinals, GNoriega saw the match go to a fifth end after shooting a five with her 12th arrow.
“The five was a little bit of an oopsie,” GNoriega admitted. “I held it a little bit too long and just didn’t really do my shot but I just told myself to re-commit and focus again and be aggressive with my shots and it worked out.”
GNoriega reset, focused and fired down a 29 in end number five for a 6-4 victory. Her next big competition will be Hyundai Archery World Cup Stage #2 in Shanghai, China from May 6-11, where she will be joined by Zuleta-Visser, Kaufhold and Cham Chung.
The men’s team will include Brady Ellison, Jack Williams and the two finalists in the recurve men’s competition, Trenton Cowles and Christian Stoddard.
Stoddard held a 4-0 and then a 5-3 lead over Cowles, who heads straight to the 2025 HotelPlanner Collegiate Target Nationals on returning from China. Cowles refused to go away, forcing a shootoff, which he won for a 6-5 victory.
“It was a case of never give up, trust your shot and trust the process,” said Cowles. “I really had to dig deep because I had tons of nerves up there but I went back to the fundamentals.”
Campbell Affleck took bronze in recurve men, to cap a Gator Cup in which he beat top seed Brady Ellison at the quarter final stage.
Earlier, history also repeated itself in recurve 50+ women as Jamie McCarrison took silver, as was the case in 2024. This time it was top seed Janis Grellner who denied her gold.
Seeds one and two fought for gold and silver in compound 50+ men. It was level after three ends, before number one seed George Ryals IV pulled away to win by three from Richard Burkett Jr.
Barebow 50+ men went the way of Melvin Powell, who enjoyed a 6-0 win over Johannes Gildenhuys, with Steve Oakley taking home the bronze.
Check BetweenEnds for all the results from the 2025 Easton Foundations Gator Cup, with photos from the event available here.
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