PHOENIX, Arizona – While the Arizona Cup is the first United States Archery Team (USAT) Qualifier Series Event of the season, archers are coming into the beginning of the circuit ready to perform at their peak, posting strong scores and poise under pressure in match play.
After impressive and competitive qualification round scores yesterday, cadet and junior archers went head to head in this afternoon’s elimination rounds.
The recurve cadet divisions were the largest, and following tight qualification scores, the brackets saw great upsets in some close and intense matches. In the quarterfinals, 8th seed Olivia Hoffman took out top qualifier Emma Kim in a one arrow shoot off and in another intense gold final, ended up with silver in a shoot off against 2nd seed Natalie Hong, who claimed the win.
Top recurve cadet men’s qualifier Andrew Yoo fell to 5th seed Christian Stoddard in a quick 6-0 semifinal; Stoddard went on to take gold 6-4 over Davis Beauvais and Yoo finished with bronze.
William Fowler was a standout among the compound cadet men, coming from a 13th place ranking to the finals, where Colton Lash beat him out for bronze 142-138 after overtaking 2nd seed Isaac Sullivan 142-140 in the semifinals. Top qualifier Sawyer Sullivan posted consistently high scores to remain undefeated, taking the gold 143-138 over Jaydon Soderlund.
Amber Baum climbed from 11th yesterday to win the compound cadet women’s gold 133-131 over top qualifier Sydney Sullenberger. World Archery Indoor Series standout Brielle Ochnich clinched bronze.
Top compound junior man Tyler Heritage scored high all day to take gold in his most impressive match result; 147-140 over 7th seed Bodie Turner. Arizona local Cooper French claimed bronze. Kate Iodice clinched the women’s gold over Regan Pate in a decisive 138-130 final victory while Alexandra Cleghorn finished with bronze over top seed Elisa Keller.
The recurve junior brackets also saw fewer surprising upsets as women’s high scorer Eunice Choi cleaned several 6-0 shut outs on her way to gold over 2nd seed Megan McDonough. Kate Stains claimed bronze in a 6-2 final over Abigail Rutledge.
Andrew Mantle claimed the men’s gold, also in a 6-0 shut out over Joshua Culwell after both had strong performances climbing today’s brackets. Top seed Gabe Anderson finished with bronze.
Complete results from today’s competition are available on Between Ends. Competition wraps tomorrow with senior and master elimination matches. Senior gold medal matches will stream live at 1pm PT on USA Archery’s Facebook and YouTube.
Photos are available on USA Archery’s SmugMug.
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