DUBLIN, Ohio – The seniors and masters wrapped the Buckeye Classic this afternoon through very challenging wind conditions. After a rain out for the last two ends of the qualification session yesterday, high scores were rare as archers battled extreme gusts.
London 2012 team silver medalist and Ohio native Jacob Wukie upset top seed and Olympic teammate Brady Ellison in the quarterfinals and finished with silver behind Tokyo hopeful Jack Williams.
Williams, who set a junior world record at Outdoor Nationals earlier this month, is rocking a strong start this season: “The wind seemed to treat me better today than it has in the past. I’ve been working really hard to get ready for wind like this; overall, the Olympic Games being pushed back actually allowed me to get better at things I needed to, like shooting in the wind. Last year, or maybe two years ago, this wind would have killed me. Now I’m ready, I know what to do, and I can do it.”
Trenton Cowles won out 6-0 over Joonsuh Oh for the bronze.
The recurve women saw a lot of upsets in the brackets as 6th and 9th seeds Eliana Claps and National Champion Alexandria Zuleta-Visser 7-1 and Catalina GNoriega took the bronze.
It was the top two compound women’s qualifiers that vied for gold and Paige Pearce clinched the win over Alexis Ruiz by a single point in the final end 136-135. “Today’s weather was super challenging, I had to learn and adapt as the day went on,” shared Pearce. “I switched releases and haven’t shot it in the wind prior to today. Luckily it worked out and my arrows landed where they needed to for me to pull off the win.” Collegiate archer Martina Zikmundova of the Czech Republic also won bronze by a single point.
Reo Wilde and Kris Schaff went head to head for gold in a rematch of the U.S. Open final from two weeks ago. Today it was Wilde who took the win 137-135. Local archers Dan Jasa and James Todd shot for bronze and Jasa, who had impressively strong scores in the wind all day, won 140-136.
Keith Trail and Tim Grapentien, the top compound master men’s qualifiers went 1 and 2 in match play today while para archer David Cunningham climbed to win the bronze with really strong scores. Deanna Cronin, Alanna Dunaway and Linda Klosterman topped the women’s podium.
Brett Adams climbed from a 10th place qualification to win gold over top seed Ken Kronberg for the recurve master men while Jeff Starkweather won bronze. The top three women kept their podium positions through matches today with Tatyana Muntyan claiming the gold, Melissa McAvoy took wilver and Lee-Ford Faherty finished with the bronze.
Competition resumes tomorrow with the cadet and junior elimination matches. Complete results from today’s events and live scores throughout the weekend are available on Between Ends. Check out our online photo gallery and join the conversation this weekend with #BuckeyeClassic.
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