The curtain came down on the Olympic Archery in Schools season on Saturday with the USA Archery OAS National Championship, as schools and individuals tested themselves at the event in both California and Florida.
The Mission Statement of OAS reads ‘To inspire growth in archery, to produce character-driven leaders and competitive athletes,’ and Le Phan epitomized that statement with a silver medal at the 2025 USA Archery OAS National Championship. Making his second appearance at this stage, the student-athlete – who finished 32nd in 2024 – took second spot in Middle School Varsity Boys for Warner Middle School.
He said, “I felt really proud and confident in my shots. I did slip up here and there, but overall I was very happy with how I did.”
The OAS program invites students to join their school's archery team, opening a door of opportunity to compete against other teams in the region and nationally.
Isabella Borja only took up archery at the beginning of the year and walked home with a bronze medal in the Middle School Junior Varsity Girls competition. Her brother, Luis Borja, also took up archery this school year and earned 1st Place in Middle School Junior Varsity Boys.
Her coach at San Gorgonio Middle School is David Ohrberg. He commented, “My archers do the work and put in the effort. As long as they have fun and do their best, I think that shows in what they accomplish on the range.”
Success was, of course, gauged so far as medals won but OAS is about so much more, as these archers outline.
Autumn Wall attends High Tech High Point Loma and competed in High School Junior Varsity Girls:
“Archery has brought me a sense of community, which I’ve never really had because I never played in sports before OAS. It brought me a sense of being on a team and team sportsmanship.”
Liana Bils was shooting in the High School Junior Varsity Girls division for Wiseburn/Da Vinci:
“I like meeting all the new people, getting to broaden my friend group. Shooting with other teams at events means I get to learn more about the community. It’s a lot of fun being able to shoot in a more professional setting, too, feeling what it might be like to shoot at the Olympic level.
“Archery has helped me understand myself at a deeper level. Understanding how I focus and my thought process has helped me ground myself more.”
Talon Cappasola has been part of the OAS program through his four years at Wiseburn/Da Vinci and was involved in the High School Varsity Boys’ competition:
“Getting to have this close and supportive relationship with the coaches and the members of our team is huge, and to foster this environment we have continuously as team captain for the last two years has been a great experience.
“As a team, we got to see what we enjoyed in practices and make adjustments to improve when necessary. With four years in the program, we had the opportunity to make this team a really positive place.”
As for the overall team competition, Lake High Preparatory High School in Orlando, Fla. successfully defended its title in High School Varsity Boys and High School Varsity Girls. The boys, though, were pushed close by East River High School – also from Orlando – who finished just one point behind.
There was also a repeat sweep in the High School Junior Varsity competition, with Beaumont High School retaining their national titles for both boys and girls.
First Christian Middle School stormed to gold in the Middle School Varsity Boys event. The school which finished fifth in 2024 saw off all the medalists from last year – Mountain View Middle School, Corner Lake Middle School and San Gorgonio Middle School. Corner Lake once again took silver. Warner Middle School went from eighth in 2024 to win bronze.
There was gold for Corner Lake Middle School in the Middle School Varsity Girls event, to go with the gold they won 12 months ago.
And after being denied a double gold last year in the Middle School Junior Varsity competition, Corner Lake made sure this time around as both their boys and girls teams triumphed.
Competition took place at the Easton Newberry Archery Center in Florida and the Easton Archery Center of Excellence in Chula Vista, California.
You can see all the scores from the 2025 USA Archery OAS National Championship on BetweenEnds.com. There are also photos from events in both Florida and California.
