USA Archery Hosts Indoor National Final

The recent 2022 USA Archery Indoor Nationals Final in Louisville, Kentucky, celebrated outstanding archery competition and awarded a $65,000 prize purse to the 40 best archers from across the nation culminating the indoor season.

The compound men’s division was stacked with talent and the competition was tight. Braden Gellenthien (below, far left) won gold – after a 149-149 quarterfinal match with Jesse Broadwater went to a one-arrow shoot off that came down to millimeters, he went on to upset top seed Dave Cousins 148-145 in the semifinals and then outscored Kris Schaff 148-145 for gold.

The compound women also saw upsets in the brackets as 15-year-old Olivia Dean (below, far left) knocked out third seed Linda Ochoa-Anderson 144-142 in the quarterfinals and then outscored two-time Vegas Champion Liko Arreola 147-146 in a very close semifinal match. Dean edged out fourth seed Alexis Ruiz in the gold final. Ruiz took an early lead, but Dean battled back to bring the match to a 144-144 draw and then clinched the shoot-off victory.

In the recurve brackets, top men’s seed Trenton Cowles, collegiate archery standout from Texas A&M University, cleaned preliminary matches easily to earn a spot in a tough gold medal matchup against four-time Olympian Brady Ellison. The two went back and forth, ultimately splitting the score 5-5 for a shoot-off, and Cowles came away with the big win.

Olympian Casey Kaufhold again took the win in women’s recurve in an impressive 6-4 final against second seed Eunice H. Choi. On her path to gold, Kaufhold won 6-0 against No. 4 Jordan Marie Meiners.

Top-ranked in the gender-combined barebow division, Grayson Partlowe took the win 6-2 over Jeff Ogilvie, who made his Final’s stage debut at age 52. Ogilvie climbed from a seventh seed, upsetting No. 2 John Demmer III in a 6-2 quarterfinal and No. 3 Fawn Girard in a semifinal shoot-off. Girard, the only female to make the cut for the division, went on to take bronze 7-1 over Lee Wilkins.

Complete results from the competition are available on Between Ends. The gold medal matches can be watched on Competition Archery Media. 

 

ATA Weighs In On the “America the Beautiful” Initiative

The ATA and 44 other members of the Hunt Fish 30x30 Coalition recently submitted formal comments to the Federal Register regarding the American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas, a key component of the Biden Administration’s “America the Beautiful” Initiative, also referred to as “30x30.” The recommendations urge the Administration to identify the lands and waters considered to be “conserved” based on conservation outcomes rather than arbitrary criteria. The groups also highlight the importance of working with entities such as state fish and wildlife management agencies, regional fish and wildlife management authorities, tribes, conservation focused NGOs and private landowners who are most knowledgeable and best equipped to advance pragmatic and successful conservation efforts throughout the United States.

"There are tremendous variable benefits associated with 'conservation' lands across this country," said Dan Forster, ATA vice president and chief conservation officer. "ATA’s direct involvement with this initiative, as well as that of the other coalition members, is to ensure that active management and recreational opportunities that include hunting are not only allowed but prioritized in these expansion efforts. 

"Conservation lands not only provide the foundation for quality of life attributes for all Americans but also provide wildlife and associated recreational benefits like bowhunting opportunities that are critical for our industry, customers and the recreational economy that fuels much of rural America. 

"The bowhunting community is dependent upon having access to wildlife and wild places to hunt. This effort to ensure a robust existence of conservation of lands into the future, provides great opportunity and hope for long term participation and growth of archery hunting provided we engage to ensure that active management and recreation prevail as high priority objectives."

The ATA and other organizations believe that for America the Beautiful to be successful, the following fundamental elements must be included in any “30x30” policy:

• Clearly defining “conservation” to support the active management and sustainable use of our nation’s public trust fish and wildlife resources.
• Collaborating closely with entities devoted to achieving measurable biodiversity conservation objectives
• Recognizing and including all efforts directly contributing to biodiversity conservation in the forthcoming American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas, including those on lands managed for multiple uses.

USA Archery Adds National Elite Development Programs

USA Archery is debuting two new offerings for 2022 in its suite of high-performance programs designed to help the nation’s best emerging athletes take their skills to the next level. The National Elite Development Program and National Elite Development Program U18, which are the next step up from the Regional Elite Development Program (RED), are designed to provide support to recurve athletes who are training to be internationally competitive and to identify and develop high performing athletes to represent the United States of America in both U.S. and World competitions.

USA Archery Chief of Sport Performance and Organizational Development Mary Emmons commented, “USA Archery’s High Performance Programs are designed to identify and develop recurve athletes alongside their personal coaches to help them reach international podium potential. The new National Elite Development Programs will provide athletes with increased access to USA Archery’s National Head Coaching staff, allowing athletes to continue to balance school and career obligations, while the RED Program will continue to provide recurve and compound athlete development opportunities in six regions across the U.S.”

The National Elite Development Program is aimed at athletes age 18+ who are currently enrolled in a collegiate archery program or are pursuing a career while continuing personal archery training to be internationally competitive. A maximum of eight archers per year will be selected to this prestigious program. Archers will be provided a minimum of seven user nights at the Easton Archery Center of Excellence in Chula Vista, CA and receive year-round support from the USA Archery National Coaching Staff.

The U18 Program is for emerging youth recurve talents who aim to be internationally competitive and will feature three camps for up to 16 archers at the Easton Archery Center of Excellence in Chula Vista, CA led by the USA Archery National Coaching Staff.

All archers will be provided custom training plans, virtual coach support and access to online trainings to further development within the framework of USA Archery’s High Performance Ethos, athlete competencies and Athlete Development Model.

The following athletes have been selected for the 2022 National Elite Development Program: Chris Austin, Conner Chia, Alex Gilliam, Brianna Laux, Jackson Mirich, Molly Nugent and Eleanor Rodriguez.

The following athletes have been selected for the 2022 National Elite Development Program U18: Michelle Ahn, Ewan An, Davis Beauvais, Ruby Hirsch, Eun Hye Lee, Gabriella Luo, Carter Merchant, Ailene Pak, Logan Plaag, Christian Stoddard, Nathan Wilson, Cindy Wu and Aidan Zhoung.

Athletes interested in applying for the 2023 Regional Elite Development Program and the National Elite Development program are encouraged to review the eligibility criteria in the High Performance Program Guide or contact highperformance@usaarchery.org for more information.