ARCHERY: Ellison sweeps men’s titles; Kaufhold and Lorig share women’s crowns at U.S. Archery Nationals

2019 U.S. National Champions Casey Kaufhold (left) and Brady Ellison (Photo: USA Archery)

The beginning of a long process of selecting the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team in archery began in Dublin, Ohio at the 135th USA Archery National Target Championships and confirmed what everyone already knew.

Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold are going to be difficult to beat.

Both won the double-ranking round comfortably, Ellison shooting 1,351 and Kaufhold, age 15, shooting 1,314.

“I felt like my shot was a little off the first half,” said Ellison. “I was still catching some but it wasn’t quite there and then as soon as the wind started blowing, I started shooting better. It was a weird wind on the field today that not a lot of us saw, but still a lot of people were shooting pretty good. I’m happy to win another one, happy to be leading Trials, but wish I could have shot two 680s instead of 670s but I’m feeling good and looking forward to Texas [for stage 2 of the Trials].”

Ellison won over another prodigy, 16-year-old Josef Scarboro (1,330), followed by 19-year-old Jack Williams (1,325). Some of the famous Olympians from prior years who shot included Vic Wunderle (15th with 1,286), Butch Johnson (30th: 1,253) and Justin Huish (35th: 1,247).

Kaufhold ended with a 1,315-1,297 lead over Eliana Claps, with Crystal Gauvin third at 1,276. Khatuna Lorig, 45, the Pan American Games silver medalist in Lima, finished seventh at 1,244.

On Saturday, the U.S. Open was held, using the elimination format of the Olympic and World Championships finals. Ellison was again the best, winning in the final over 2016 Olympic team silver medalist Zach Garrett, 6-2.

Kaufhold made it through to the women’s final, but there was Lorig to defeat her again,. 7-3. Lorig and Kaufhold met in the semifinals of the Pan American Games, with Lorig moving on to the final and Kaufhold eventually taking the bronze medal.

In the Compound division, Louis Price was the upset winner among the men (1,426), while Slovenia’s Toja Ellison – shooting as a guest – won the women’s division at 1,412. Alexis Ruiz was the top American, in third place, and was named National Champion, scoring 1,388.

Price won the U.S. Open elimination tournament, but Nationals runner-up Tanja Jensen (DEN) came back to defeat Ellison in the women’s final, 137-131. Summaries:

USA Archery National Target Championships
Dublin, Ohio (USA) ~ 14-17 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

Recurve: 1. Brady Ellison, 1,351; 2. Josef Scarboro, 1,330; 3. Jack Williams, 1,325; 4. Thomas Stanwood, 1,321; 5. Joonsuh Oh, 1,318; 6. Alex Bourdage, 1,315; 7. Zach Garrett, 1,314; 8. Jacob Wukie, 1,314.

Compound: 1. Louis Price, 1,426; 2. Matthew Sullivan, 1,415; 3. James Lutz, 1,413; 4. Braden Gellenthien, 1,412; 5. Tate Morgan, 1,412; 6. Don Jasa, 1,408; 7. Shawnn Vincent, 1,406; 8. Kris Schaff, 1,403.

Barebow: 1. John Demmer III, 1,326; 2. John Dillinger, 1,265; 3. Jason Lintner, 1,223; 4. Joseph Cashuric, 1,194; 5. Marcus Cooley, 1,194; 6. Srirama Phani Kumar Gottipati (IND), 1,192; 7. Scott Bills, 1,187; 8. An Nguyen, 1,164.

Women

Recurve: 1. Casey Kaufhold, 1,314; 2. Eliana Claps, 1,297; 3. Crystal Gauvin, 1,276; 4. Alexandria Zuleta-Visser, 1,264; 5. Erin Mickelberry, 1,261; 6. Nicole Turina, 1,259; 7. Khatuna Lorig, 1,244; 8. Amy Jung, 1,244.

Compound: 1. Toja Ellison (SLO), 1,412; 2. Tanja Jensen (DEN), 1,388; 3. Alexis Ruiz, 1,388; 4. Sophia Strachan, 1,386; 5. Savannah Vanderwier, 1,386; 6. Linda Ochoa-Anderson (MEX). 1,385; 7. Sarah Lance, 1,377; 8. Lexi Keller, 1,377.

Barebow: 1. Claire Xie, 1,200; 2. Susan Snider, 1,186; 3. Melody Richards, 1,168; 4. Kay Earls, 1,091; 5. Antonella Bath, 1,015; 6. Melissa Tennant, 1,006; 7. Amy Rayner-Cooley, 988; 8. Marissa Wolf, 959.

USA Archery U.S. Open
Dublin, Ohio (USA) ~ 14-17 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

Recurve: 1. Brady Ellison; 2. Zach Garrett; 3. Jack Williams; 4. Joonsuh Oh. Third: Williams d. Oh, 6-5. Final: Ellison d. Garrett, 6-2.

Compound: 1. Louis Price; 2. Matthew Sullivan; 3. James Lutz; 4. Tate Morgan. Third: Lutz d. Morgan, 149-145. Final: Price d. Sullivan, 139-137.

Barebow: 1. John Demmer III; 2. John Dillinger; 3. Marcus Cooley; 4. Jason Lintner. Third: Cooley d. Lintner, 6-2. Final: Demmer d. Dillinger, 6-5

Women

Recurve: 1. Khatuna Lorig; 2. Casey Kaufhold; 3. Erin Mickelberry; 4. Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez. Third: Mickelberry d. Mucino-Fernandez, 7-1. Final: Lorig d. Kaufhold, 7-3.

Compound: 1. Tanja Jensen (DEN); 2. Toja Ellison (SLO); 3. Alexis Ruiz; 4. Jamie van Natta. Third: Ruiz d. van Natta, 146-140. Final: Jensen d. Ellison, 137-131.

Barebow: 1. Claire Xie; 2. Melissa Tennant; 3. Antonella Bath; 4. Amy Rayner-Cooley. Third: Bath d. Rayner-Cooley, 6-0. Final: Xie d. Tennant, 6-0.