MEDELLIN, Colombia - The 2018 Pan American Championships and Para Pan American Championships are the World Archery Americas' Continental Championships and a prestigious competition for USA Archers. For senior recurve and compound archers, the team events here are critical to earn spots for the Pan American Games next year. For youth archers, this is an invaluable international competition experience.
Following his new national record last week, Brady Ellison rocked a 692 to top the recurve men's qualification by a whopping 16 points clear the rest of the field. Jack Williams ranked 5th with a 666 and last week's U.S. Open champion Matt Requa was 12th with a 654 to rank the team solidly in 1st.
Mackenzie Brown qualified 3rd for the recurve women with a 650, just 10 points behind top qualifier Alejandra Valencia of Mexico. Khatuna Lorig and LaNola Shepherd qualified 6th and 10th respectively with 645 and 629 to qualify the team 2nd behind Mexico. Brown and Ellison also put the top seed for the mixed team event on lockdown.
For the compound seniors, earning spots at the 2019 Pan American Games is of huge significance - this will be the first time compound is an event at the Games, which is a large step towards possible future inclusion at the Olympics. Highly motivated to win, Matt Sullivan, Kris Schaff and Reo Wilde qualified 1st, 2nd and 6th with 711, 711, and 703 respectively, ranking 1st as a team by 26 points over Colombia.
Paige Pearce scored a 691 to qualify 5th for the women with teammates Jamie Van Natta and Cassidy Cox coming in 7th and 9th with 687 and 686 to rank 3rd behind Colombia and Mexico.
USA's Timothy Palumbo, Kevin Mather and Michael Lukow swept the para recurve open men's qualification ranking 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively with 622, 612 and 609 to lock up the top team slot.
Almost a sweep on the para compound open men's field, Ben Thompson, Andre Shelby and Richard Burkett posted 693, 682 and 678 to qualify 1st, 2nd and 4th and 1st as a team. Lance Thornton also qualified 6th with a 670.
Teresa Wallace and Martha Chavez qualified 3rd and 4th for the para compound open women with 625 and 601. Wallace and Thompson ranked 3rd for the mixed team event. Lia Coryell took the 2nd qualification spot for the Para W1 category with a 586.
Amber Arbegast, USA's sole junior compound entrant in the event, qualified 2nd with a 651.
Benjamin Hur was USA's top junior recurve men's qualifier, ranking 3rd with a 643 ahead of Jackson Mirich and Alex Gilliam, who ranked 6th and 7th, snaking the top team qualification spot by just 2 points over Brazil. Katherine Wu qualified 2nd for the women with a 588 and teammate Olivia Huffer ranked 7th. Wu and Hur ranked 2nd for the mixed team competition, just behind Brazil.
Team USA's 2018 Youth Olympian Trenton Cowles qualified 7th for the recurve cadet men with a 641 ahead of Nikhil Murali and Dallas Jones, who ranked 8th and 10th with 637 and 624 each to qualify 1st as a team. Ramsey Lechner was USA's top recurve cadet women's qualifier, ranking 9th with a 590. Ranking 5th, Cowles and Lechner will also team up for the mixed team competition.
While most top USA masters archers are at the World Archery Masters Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland this week, several headed to Colombia. Alexander Bernard Wong qualified 2nd for the recurve masters men with a 594 while Marcia Falks and Jennifer Lee Wong ranked 1st and 2nd for the compound women with 580 and 543 respectively. Falks will team up with para archers Chavez and Wallace in the team event - as the only team in the category, guaranteeing a gold finish.
Competition resumes tomorrow with team and mixed team rounds through all bronze finals and select gold medal matches. Complete results from the competition are available here. Follow USA Archery on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more from the event.
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