YANKTON, SD - The World Archery Field Championships continued today with individual elimination matches in breezy conditions across the course. After two days of qualification, divisions were cut to the top archers and then divided into pools to compete in a shoot-up format.
As the top qualifiers in their respective divisions, Brady Ellison, Paige Pearce, and Dave Cousins were automatically seeded into the semifinals taking place Friday.
Fourth-seed Matthew Nofel competing in the recurve men’s division moved up successfully through his two matches of the day against Croatia. As fate would have it, Nofel’s wins positioned him in the semifinals to face teammate Ellison.
Jackson Mirich had an unfortunate start to the day falling short 71-83 in the first match of the day against Belgium’s Peter Daman.
Molly Nugent, who qualified 11th, handled the challenging conditions in stride among the recurve women. Nugent handily won her first two matches 80-63 against Dagiijanchiv Jargalsaikhan of Mongolia and 86-74 against Spain’s Maria Pitarch. It wasn’t until her third match of the day that Nugent lost to Bryony Pitman of Great Britain by a single point 87-88.
Fifth-ranked Savannah Vanderwier had an exciting start in her match against Yuki Yamamoto of Japan. After trailing in the first half of the match, Vanderwier turned the tables resulting in a shoot-out win. Vanderwier’s tournament came to a sudden stop when she faced fourth-seeded Jindriska Vaneckova of the Czech Republic, losing the match 78-83.
Despite a few great shots, Heather Koehl suffered a narrow loss 70-71 against Luque Luengo of Spain in her only match of the day.
Shooting in the recurve under-21 men’s division Cameron Senay won his first match then lost against František Hermanek from the Czech Republic 76-81. Matthew Schaefer and Davis Beauvais both finished short in their matches.
Teammates Brianna Laux and Abigail Kippes were pitted against each other in the recurve under-21 women’s division. After Laux took the win over Kippes 77-73, she finished a couple of points shy of opponent Audrey Machinet closing at 84-86. Trinity Howard lost 71-81 in her match against Spain’s Madalina Amaistroaie.
Shooting in the compound men’s division Dan Jasa remained consistent posting 102 in both his matches today. While it was enough to advance toward a second match, Mike Schloesser of the Netherlands upped the ante to win 103-102.
Tate Morgan celebrated his birthday by winning his only match of the day against Australia’s Justin Olexienko in a shoot-out. In true nailbiter fashion, the duo both scored 6’s, but Morgan’s was closest sending him into tomorrow’s competition.
In the compound women’s division, Cassidy Cox had a frustrating loss in a shoot-off against Japan’s Satoko Tenjin. Both athletes posted 6’s, but Tenjin’s was closer to the center sealing the win. Heather Gore-Smith also came out of the gate on fire, but a couple 4’s would end her day 97-100 against Sara Ret from Italy.
Grady Kane had a perfect 18 to start his day in the compound under-21 men’s division. Kane would continue to post high scores throughout his three matches of the day, including posting a 6 to win a tiebreak. Kane met his match in the end in a narrow 92-93 loss against Francois Dubois.
Ryan Booth also had a strong start to the day with some near-perfect sets to win his first match 88-85. However, despite picking up the pace against Canada’s Dustin Watson, Booth’s competition ended 92-95.
Hunter Longest finished the day early trailing Spain’s Jordi Ricart 87-91.
Among the barebow women's division, Fawn Girard is advancing through the elimination matches into Friday. After qualifying fifth, Girard assertively won her match against Maria Cano Garcia from Spain 75-59. Christina Lyons also encountered the Spanish team, but did not have the same positive outcome ending her match 76-86.
Ryan Davis faced barebow teammate Robby Weissinger in their first match of the day. While the two were fairly matched, Davis pulled ahead to win 76-72. Davis’s momentum was cut short after a few low-scoring arrows and ultimately finished 55-70 against Hugo Lobb of Australia.
Matt Yacca finished the day 73-85 against David Garcia Fernandez of Spain.
The competition tomorrow features more eliminations followed by the semifinal matches. The team rounds will also start tomorrow. Results are available on World Archery and photos are on World Archery’s SmugMug. Follow USA Archery on Facebook and Instagram for more from the event.
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