DUBLIN, Ohio – Trenton Cowles and Jordan Graham both retained their Rebel Gear Buckeye Classic titles as the fourth and final USAT Qualifier Series event of 2024 came to a close on Sunday afternoon.
Cowles claimed gold in the recurve men, defeating his Texas A&M teammate Alex Gilliam 6-0, while Graham – from host club Ace Archers Club Of Columbus - got the better of Alex de Vera 7-1 in barebow men.
Mathias Fullerton of Denmark won his second USAT event of the year, having also won the AAE Arizona Cup in April, with a 148-142 win over Nick Kappers in the compound men. Fullerton set a new world record in the semifinal, pending official verification, when his maximum 150 included 13 X’s. The previous record was held by the USA’s Reo Wilde, who notched 12 X’s at the World Cup Stage 1 in China in May 2015.
“Right when I shot it, I didn’t really believe it,” began Fullerton. “But today I felt like I was shooting my best ever and beating that world record obviously gave me confidence going into the gold medal match.”
Two other winners in the senior division grew into their matches and walked away with gold. The first of those was Carson Krahe, another Texas A&M archer. The compound talent trailed Olivia Dean until the final end but finished with a maximum and when Dean out her final arrow into the eight, Krahe (pictured) snatched victory by a single point. Dean finished the USAT Qualifier Series with two gold medals and two silvers.
Krahe said, “I knew it was going to be a tough match because Olivia is such a good shooter, so I just had to put my all into it.
“This is my first gold medal at senior level and I’m shaking with excitement.”
Cham Chung was the other archer to triumph through perseverance in her recurve women’s match with Jordan Marie Meiners. Chung was 4-0 down after the first two ends but turned things around, taking the next three to win 6-4.
Diane Cochran showed perseverance of her own in claiming the barebow women title. She lost out to Maggie Brensinger in the Buckeye Classic gold medal match last year, and had been beaten at the last in this year’s Arizona Cup and SoCal Showdown. On both occasions, she lost out to Cindy Czako in a one arrow shootoff.
Cochran came up against another Cindy in Dublin, Cindy Graham, and had no such drama as she claimed the title with a 6-2 win.
In qualification for the 2023 Rebel Gear Buckeye Classic, the top three barebow women scored 552, 548 and 535. Cochran (pictured) was the archer to score 548. A year on and Cochran was among a group of three archers to all break 600. Maggie Brensinger increased her own U21 world record (pending verification) by eight points in scoring 628. Cochran managed 619 and Sara Gebhardt 609.
“A lot of that improvement is down to us pushing each other,” admitted Cochran. “We’ve been trying to communicate with each other – we’ve got a little group going – in terms of trying to go a little harder, go a little better, and sharing in those victories, and I think that community is really starting to elevate one another.
“We’ve done so much better this year compared to last year and I can’t wait to see what we do in the next 12 months.”
In the masters division, Cheri Gandy was denied a repeat. The defending champion lost in a one arrow shootoff to Barbara Carroll in the barebow 50+ women. Carrie Lin, winner 12 months ago, finished fourth in compound 50+ women. Gold was claimed Sharon Totton.
Richard Burkett Jr., who also competes in the compound men open division, took gold in the compound 50+ men, edging top seed George Ryals IV 141-140. Another top seed was forced to settle for silver as Jamie McCarrison fell to sixth seed Lori Cieslinski in the recurve 50+ women.
Ron Gosnell, the bronze medalist in last year’s Buckeye Classic in recurve 50+ men, proved too strong for Tom Stevenson to walk away with gold, while Richard Barker came from behind to win gold in the barebow 50+ men, beating Bob Carroll 6-2. Carroll also took silver at SoCal Showdown last month.
Find all the results on BetweenEnds and all the photos from the Buckeye Classic on USA Archery’s SmugMug page.
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