May 11, 2021

USA Archery Qualifies Spots for Junior Pan American Games at Medellin World Ranking Event

MEDELLIN, Colombia – The inaugural Junior Pan American Games archery competition will take place in Cali, Colombia later this summer, and the World Ranking Event in Medellin last week was the lone qualifying event. USA archers earned the full quota: two recurve men and two recurve women and one each male and female compound spot.

The team competitions for both the qualifying event and the Pan American Games feature a two-athlete format like the mixed team event. USA’s recurve junior women Ashley Kim and Liberty Hofmaster seeded 3^rd and went on to win gold in a stunning 6-0 finish over Mexico; one of the best international recurve youth women’s team finishes from the U.S. in decades.  

The recurve junior men’s team of Noah Cagle and Carter Merchant qualified 5^th and needed a top 5 finish in match play to earn their berth to Cali. A shoot off upset of the home team from Colombia in the quarterfinals put USA through to the semifinals, where the team finished 4^th to earn their spots.

Individually, Kim who ranked 3^rd in qualification, also finished with bronze and competed in the mixed team event with Merchant where they finished 4^th in a shoot off for bronze.

USA earned the compound quota places by winning gold in the junior mixed team event. Seeded 4^th, Cooper French and Anna Scarbrough shot their way to the final where they upset Colombia 153-151. Both also had impressive individual finishes; Cooper French qualified 2^nd and went on to win gold and the individual junior men’s continental title. 8^th seed Scarbrough climbed the brackets, upsetting top seed Dafne Quintero of Mexico 143-140 in the quarterfinals before finishing with silver.

Outside of the youth events, Lee Ford-Faherty was one of two archers shooting for the recurve master women’s title, and the victor in a final 7-1 decision.

Complete results from the competition are available here. USA Archery will nominate archers to fill national quota spots through the U.S. Team Trials held in conjunction with USA Archery JOAD Target Nationals and the 2021 World Archery Youth Championships U.S. Team Trials in Decatur, Alabama on July 7-11, 2021. Registration for the Trials ends May 17th. Learn more.