NIMES, France - The indoor archery season has a crazy start in 2018 - from the Archery Trade Association show last week, many archers headed straight to Nimes for the third stage of the Indoor Archery World Cup Series, and will then go to Pennsylvania for the Lancaster Archery Classic, then Vegas for the Vegas Shoot and Indoor World Cup Final, which backs up to the World Archery Indoor Championships in South Dakota in mid-February. Ready to hit the ground running, many U.S. archers made strong impressions coming out of the gate in today's qualification rounds.
While qualification will continue tomorrow and not all archers have shot yet, many top archers have scored today and posted high marks. Brady Ellison (Globe, Arizona) has historically been one of the strongest players on this circuit, setting near impossible to break world records last year, but was absent from the first two stages this season following unfortunate circumstances. Coming in strong, Ellison posted a 295 and a 299, sitting in second with a 594 total, just two points behind Italy's Mandia with a 596.
Mackenzie Brown (Flint, Texas) finished the day fourth with consistent halves to score 579. Archers from Korea locked up the top three slots with scores between 593-580.
For the compound men, USA archers are covering the top six positions, with Braden Gellenthien (Hudson, Massachusetts) and Shawnn Vincent (Mt Vernon, Washington) leading with matching 595s and 55 10s, 5 9s each. Just a point behind with 594 is Steve Anderson (West Jordan, Utah) and then with matching 593s, 53 10s, 7 9s sit Bridger Deaton (Pella, Iowa) and Kris Schaff (Billings, Montana).
In a four-way tie for 6th, Tate Morgan (Billings, Montana) opened with a 299, but finished with a 293, still in a strong position for eliminations tomorrow. USA's Brian Gold (Stansbury Park, Utah), George Ryals (Snelville, Georgia) and Logan Wilde (West Jordan, Utah) all sit at 13th with 586s. This competition is insanely tight and could easily be anyone's game.
Still in it: David Houser is sitting in 26th with a 582, and with a 581, Timothy Checkeroski (Oakland Township, Michigan) is 28th and Timothy Gillingham (Provo, Utah) is ranked 32nd in another four-way tie with a 577.
On the compound women's side, Paige Pearce Gore (Red Bluff, California) has had a firecracker start to the season, winning silver and gold at the first two stages to lead the rankings, but with double the points available here, competition has heated up. Sitting 7th with a 585, just 6 points out of the lead, held by Great Britain's Sarah Prieels. Teammate Cassidy Cox (Albuquerque, New Mexico) posted a 583 to finish the day 9th, while Dahlia Crook (Piedmont, Kansas) and Lexi Keller (Omro, Wisconsin) wrapped in 14th and 18th respectively with 578 and 572.
Several USA juniors have also hopped across the pond for invaluable international tournament experience. Leading the junior men's competition, USA shooters have the top three spots on lock with a tie for first between Carson Sapp (Cairo, Georgia) and Connor Sears (Bowie, Texas) with 594s, 54 10s, 6 9s. Blaze Ruffing (Hubertus, Wisconsin) posted a 585 to sit 3rd in a competitive field of nearly forty young archers.
Daisy Lente (Albuquerque, New Mexico) is holding on to 6th for the compound junior women with a 572, just 7 points behind the top score of 579.
Competition resumes tomorrow with two more sessions of qualification. Cuts will then be made to the top 32 archers in each division and the archers will go right into elimination matches in the afternoon through the semifinals for each division. Complete results can be found at www.worldarchery.org. For more, follow USA Archery on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Photo: World Archery
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