COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The world is waiting in 2025, with World, World Para, World Cup, World Youth, World Games and University Games all squeezed into a much-anticipated scheduled for the year ahead.
But before we close the chapter that has been 2024, let us allow ourselves a reminder of just a few of the many highlights involving USA archers over the past 12 months.
Wendy Gardner and KJ Polish were among the medals at the 8th Fazza Para Archery World Ranking Tournament in Dubai. The pair picked up mixed team silver in the compound open; Polish claimed individual bronze in the same category.
On the collegiate scene, the University of the Cumberlands picked up from where they had left off in 2023, retaining the USA Archery Indoor Nationals Collegiate Overall Team title.
When it came to the Indoor Nationals Final, staged in Louisville, Ky., we saw repeat winners and first-time champions. Casey Kaufhold won the recurve women event for the fifth time in a row. Paige Pearce claimed gold in the compound women for the fifth time in six visits. Brady Ellison reclaimed the title at the end of a faultless indoor season, while there were first time winners in Maggie Brensinger (barebow women), Parker Baker (compound men) and Zack Bisinger (barebow men).
Action moved outdoors in what was a hectic month, beginning in Arizona and ending in Brazil, with competition in Colombia and China in between.
This year’s AAE Arizona Cup, the first of the four USAT (United States Archery Team) Qualifier Series events, also incorporated Stage #4 of the Olympic Trials Qualification Event (Stage #3 was a stand-alone event immediately prior to Arizona Cup) and Stage #1 of the Paralympic Trials Qualification Event.
Among the highlights from Arizona Cup was a three-peat for Deanna Cronin in compound 50+ women. We also saw the start of quite the run for Olivia Dean (compound women) and Cindy Czako (barebow women). Both claimed gold in Arizona, and it would not be the last time they appeared on the USAT Qualifier Series podium in 2024.
In the recurve U18 men, 13-year-old Aarya Arun took gold, suggesting he will be one to watch in 2025 and beyond.
Following Arizona Cup, the elite archers donned their national team jerseys and contested the Pan American Championships, the Para Pan American Championships and the Archery World Cup Stage #1, taking them to Medellin, Sao Paulo and Shanghai.
The USA got off to a flying start at the 2024 Pan American Championships, as Cindy Czako and Marcus Cooley – fresh from success at Arizona Cup – took gold in mixed team barebow on day one.
It was an event at which the USA secured their full number of quota slots, on the women’s side, for the Olympic Games. The recurve women would win gold in Medellin, with Casey Kaufhold enjoying individual success as well.
The Pan American Championships belonged to Alexis Ruiz, who returned home with three gold medals – compound women team, compound mixed team and compound women.
There were medals won by the USA at the Para Pan Am Championships, including mixed team and individual gold for Tracy Otto and Jason Tabansky in the W1 division, while Candice Caesar and Karen Sternfeld took silver in the recurve women team category.
The first World Cup stage generated three bronze medals for the USA, all in compound. These included a first individual World Cup medal since 2019 for Ruiz, as well as bronze for Nick Kappers and, in the mixed team, for Olivia Dean and Kris Schaff.
Following on from the Pan and Para Pan American Championships in April, a team of 28 archers from the USA descended on San Salvador in May for the Youth and Masters Pan Am Championships. The US finished top of the medals table and set five new championship records.
The second of the USAT Qualifier Series events, the Easton Foundations Gator Cup, also played a huge part in determining those eligible to fill the quota slots for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The final two stages came during and after the event in Florida.
Highlights from Gator Cup included Wendy Gardner improving on her own national record in compound open women, Madalynn Puryear upgrading the silver she claimed in 2023 to win fixed pins U21 women, while Olivia Dean (17) and Liko Arreola (16) contested the final of the compound women. Elsewhere, Richard Burkett Jr., a member of the 2024 USAT in the compound open men’s division, took gold in the compound 50+ men, while teenager Christian Stoddard was denied gold in the recurve men by Matt Nofel who, at one stage, fired down nine 10s in a row.
The USA Archery Collegiate Target Nationals returned to Georgia Southern University in 2024. Texas A&M University emerged as top team, denying defending champions University of the Cumberlands. University of Pikeville took third.
World Cup Stage 2 in Korea certainly belonged to Sawyer Sullivan, who had also been involved in the Collegiate Target Nationals. He won individual men’s team and mixed team gold in compound. He and Olivia Dean had set a new U21 mixed team world record during qualification.
There were highs and lows in the month of June. It was the month in which the USA’s team for the Olympics was confirmed and when Jason Tabansky learned he had been given a quota slot for the Paralympic Games.
Field Nationals took place in Noblesville, Ind., and doubled as trials for the World Archery Field Championships. This event ended in the same week as the Easton Foundations SoCal Showdown started.
Winners in Chula Vista included defending champions Michelle Ahn (recurve U21 women), Kenneth Brunko (compound 50+ men) and Lisa Sullivan (barebow 50+ women). Casey Kaufhold won gold in the recurve women for the third year in a row, while Paige Pearce defeated Arizona Cup and Gator Cup champion Olivia Dean in compound women, and in doing so ended a run of silver medals from the previous four editions of the event.
Towards the end of the month, the World Archery 3D Championships – U.S. Team Trials were held in Illinois, before Candice Caesar and Karen Sternfeld claimed bronze at the Para Archery World Ranking Event in the Czech Republic with a shoot-off win over Iran in the recurve women open doubles.
A field of almost 850 archers competed at the WIAWIS USA Archery JOAD Target Nationals & JOAD U.S. Open in Albuquerque. Almost 20 national records were set during JOAD Target Nationals!
There was competition at home and abroad in the latter stages of July as the Rebel Gear Buckeye Classic wrapped up the 2024 USAT Qualifier Series, while Brady Ellison, Catalina GNoriega, Casey Kaufhold and Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez departed for the Olympic Games in Paris.
At the Buckeye Classic, personal bests, national and world records were set during qualification. Mathias Fullerton beat the world record for the number of X’s at the semifinal stage of the compound men. There was repeat success for 2023 champions Trenton Cowles (recurve men) and Jordan Graham (barebow men), plus a first senior USAT win for Carson Krahe (compound women).
August brought a sensational end to the Olympic Games and the start of what would be a golden Paralympic Games, with the Chinook Seedery USA Archery Target Nationals & U.S. Open nestled in between.
Brady Ellison returned from the Olympics with individual silver and mixed team bronze, which he won alongside Casey Kaufhold. Five-time Olympian Ellison was involved in one of the greatest archery finals in Olympic history, with the American denied gold by a matter of millimeters in a shoot-off with Kim Woojin (KOR). For Kaufhold, appearing at her second Games, it was her final arrow which secured her first Olympic medal.
Target Nationals in Lubbock involved Olympic medalists and Paralympic hopefuls and produced some memorable shooting. Maggie Brensinger regained the barebow U21 world record. There was a joint gold in the barebow 50+ men, as Richard Barker and Rick Stonebraker were both crowned national champions.
Some of the U.S. Open gold medal matches were family affairs. Kris Schaff had his son Trexton in the coaches’ box, with Casey Kaufhold supported by mom, Carole. Target Nationals and U.S. Open gold went to Schaff, Kaufhold (including a first-ever U.S. Open title), Ellison, Zack Bisinger, Mark Williams, Jamie McCarrison, Wendy Gardner, Rick Stonebraker and Barbara Carroll.
Three new names were added to the USA’s list of Paralympic archers when the Games got underway in Paris at the end of the month, as Tracy Otto, Jason Tabansky and Jordan White joined five-time Paralympian Eric Bennett, London 2012 silver medalist Matt Stutzman and three-time Paralympian KJ Polish.
Tabansky would be crowned Paralympic champion in the W1 men’s category, a mere weeks after learning of his late inclusion in the Games. Stutzman the showman would rub shoulders with Hollywood A-listers on his way to gold in the compound open men.
The USA won 16 medals, including five gold, at the World Archery Field Championships in Canada. These included a third win in a row for Paige Pearce, a third since 2014 for Brady Ellison and a first barebow gold since 2008, with Fawn Girard the recipient. Dewey Hathaway tallied two golds, the individual compound U21 men as well as compound U21 mixed team alongside Rendyn Brooks.
University of the Cumberlands were crowned champions of the USA Archery Collegiate 3D Nationals for the seventh year in a row. Fourth overall was Rio Grande, the school which only began its archery program earlier this year.
Shiloh Butts won two medals at the World Archery 3D Championships in Slovenia as the USA returned with one silver and two bronze to equal the haul from 2019.
James Lutz was in unstoppable form at the Archery World Cup Final in Mexico in mid-October. Making his fourth appearance at the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final, the 26-year-old struck gold with three perfect matches.
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