MALVERN, Pa. – Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold lead the points standings after Stage #2 of Olympic Trials Qualification, which took place on Sunday on the venue of the 139th USA Archery Target Nationals and U.S. Open.
Cut to the top 16 in both recurve men and recurve women, the archers dipped into their physical and mental reserves after a tough few days, competing in 15 round robin matches across the entire day.
Justin Huish, the double Olympic champion from the 1996 Atlanta Games said, “I didn’t realize how many arrows it was going to be until two days ago when I shot mixed team rounds against Brady (Ellison), and he said ‘this is great practice for what’s coming up on Sunday; and I was like ‘what do you mean?’ and he goes ’15 matches, you know a tournament’s only six, and this is two-and-a-half tournaments in one day’, and I’m like ‘I’m just realizing this two days before hand?”
Huish lies 11th after Stage #2. Ellison sits on top after losing just one of his 15 round robin matches. Trenton Cowles climbed one place from third to second after 10 wins, the same number of successes as Jack Williams and Matthew Requa. Williams is third, up one spot, while Jackson Mirich dropped from second to fourth.
As with Ellison, the recurve women’s leader Kaufhold suffered just the one loss to strengthen her grip on the number one spot. Catalina GNoriega triumphed in 10 of her 15 matches to remain second in the standings.
Cham Chung was the biggest climber. Beginning the day in 16th, the 15-year-old won nine of her matches and sits 10th after Stage #2. LaNola Shepherd rose three places to joint 12th having also enjoyed nine wins.
The remaining four stages of Olympic Trials Qualification take place next year. Stage #3 will be prior to the first USAT Event of the year. Stage #4 will be during that USAT Event. Stages five and six will be during and after USAT Event #2.
*Medal Contender shootoff will be scheduled, if applicable
Details of the standings can be found on Between Ends. There is also a photo gallery of Stage #2 on USA Archery’s SmugMug page.
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