CHULA VISTA, Cali. – A physics teacher stood alongside one of his former students was among the many highlights on day one of the SoCal Showdown – the third of four USAT Qualifier Series events – at the Easton Archery Center of Excellence.
Eric Bennett, positioned next to Brady Ellison, went on to win the recurve men open, from Paralympic champion Kevin Mather and veteran Michael Lukow.
Ellison, on the other hand, recovered from a rare miss to post 662 in recurve men qualification, which was good enough for fourth ahead of Saturday’s elimination. Jack Williams emerged as the number one seed after a 668. Bennett and Ellison were once teacher and student at Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale, AZ.
Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez was in impressive form in the recurve women, finishing first with 660. Casey Kaufhold – aiming for a third successive win in the USAT Series after success in Arizona and Florida – qualified as second seed, closely followed by Catalina GNoriega.
Number one in the compound men was James Lutz, two ahead of Mike Schloesser of the Netherlands. Tanja Gellenthian led the way in the compound women, edging out Alexis Ruiz having scored more 10s (54 to 53), with both archers scoring 700.
Marcus Cooley showed his intent in the barebow men. As defending champion, he qualified as number one seed by 24 points. Sierra Nation – a silver medalist at last month’s Collegiate Target Nationals out of Metro State University Denver – was number one in the barebow women.
Kenneth Brunko, winner at Gator Cup last month, was top archer in the compound 50+ men. Defending champion Timothy Gillingham qualified fourth.
In the compound 50+ women, Deanna Cronin began the defense of her title with a strong showing, finishing first in qualification by seven points from Tamara Fontenot.
Ted Holland and Susan Bock ranked best in the recurve 50+ men and women respectively. Bock is defending the title she won in 2022.
Other medalists on the first day of competition came in the W1 Open category, won by Jason Tabansky, from Lucas Herro and Damon Whittaker.
Candice Caesar claimed gold in the recurve open women, followed by Emma Rose Ravish and Valeria Duron. KJ Polish took gold in the compound open men, from Jonathan Lopez.
The U21 gold medal matches in recurve and compound will be broadcast live on Sunday from 2pm local time on USA Archery’s YouTube and Facebook channels, with commentator George Tekmitchov – a veteran of six Olympic Games – on the call.
You can keep up-to-date with all the latest scores and results on Between Ends, and there will be photo galleries from each day on USA Archery’s SmugMug account.
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