LAS VEGAS, Nevada. – It was a USA Archery Indoor Nationals Final full of surprises inside the Horseshoe Las Vegas Events Center, with firm favorites falling and new champions crowned.
The biggest upset came in recurve women, where Casey Kaufhold – who had won every edition since 2019 – lost her quarterfinal match to eventual bronze medalist Olivia Martin. Catalina GNoriega ultimately took gold, defeating her Olympic teammate Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez.
Brady Ellison, the 2024 champion, lost his semifinal match to Jack Williams, the man he beat in last year’s gold medal contest. Williams then lost to the almost faultless Christian Stoddard. Overall, 19-year-old Stoddard dropped just three points across 14 ends.
Earlier 16-year-old Caelan Shanklin took Alex Gilliam to a shootoff in recurve men. Shanklin, who started his archery journey shooting barebow before switching to Olympic recurve, never trailed in the match until the one arrow decider. He was making his debut at the event as the second seed.
There was an upset in the compound women gold medal match, as 17-year-old Kaylee Gurney held her nerve to defeat top seed and reigning champion Paige Pearce, who had won this event five of the last six. Her only loss in that time came against Olivia Dean in 2022.
Gurney held a lead of three points after two ends, reduced to two points after three and then just one point separated the archers heading down the last, with the teenager grabbing gold in a 144-143 victory.
In barebow women, 55 years separated Medina Otajagic and Barbara Carroll but they needed two shootoffs to determine a winner in their quarterfinal match-up. Otajagic, the 15-year-old, eventually won through but not before being given a massive scare by her 70-year-old opponent.
Otajagic made it to the gold medal match, before succumbing to last year’s silver medalist, Ava Jones, herself only 17. Maggie Brensinger, the winner from last year, finished with the bronze.
Zackary Bisinger was defending his barebow men's title, and found himself 4-0 up on Brian Way, the brother of the man he beat in 2024. Way clawed his way back, firing 30 on the final end to force a shootoff, which he won to claim gold. Marcus Cooley took bronze.
James Lutz reached the gold medal match in compound men with two scores of 150, the second of which was against eventual bronze medalist Sawyer Sullivan and required a shootoff. In the final, Lutz and Kyle Douglas dropped just one point apiece, finishing 149-149. This time, Lutz came second best in the shootoff, handing victory to the 2022 bronze medalist.
Full results can be found at BetweenEnds, with photos from the 2025 USA Archery Indoor Nationals Final on USA Archery's SmugMug page.
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