April 12, 2010

Team USA Earns 19 Medals at Arizona Cup

The final day of shooting at the 2010 Arizona Cup in Phoenix, started Sunday with an awards ceremony for team rounds, which was handed out by title sponsor Arizona Archery Enterprises' Dan Fisher.  The recurve and compound head-to-head set matches quickly began, with temperatures quickly rising from the mid 60s to the high 80s as the harsh Arizona sun began its march across the sky. 

 

As the field started winnowing away, archers with the intent of medaling started to come to the forefront.  When the dust settled in the archery version of the Old West shootouts, only 16 archers stood at the top, with 12 of them having a chance at a medal.

 

In the male compound brackets, Logan Wilde and Rodger Willett Jr. from Team USA were joined by Jean Pizarro from Puerto Rico and Hernandez Rigoberto from El Salvador.  Team USA female compound archers Jamie Van Natta and Erika Anschutz were joined by Crisanto Ana and Felissa De La Concha from Team Mexico.

 

In the recurve brackets, Team USA male recurve archers Brady Ellison and Vic Wunderle were joined by Rene Serrano of Team Mexico and Vetle Meland Risinggard from Norway.  USA's own Jennifer Nichols, Canada's Marie-Pier Beaudet, and Team Mexico's Itzel Orta and Alejandra Valencia made it a women's American continental shootout for the female recurve category.

 

The compound bronze medal matches went quickly, with Erika Anschutz taking the bronze medal for the United States.  Rodger Willet Jr. dispatched Rigoberto Hernandez in straight sets, sending a blistering series of 10s and Xs downrange to win the men's compound bronze.

 

In the Women's compound gold-medal match, Jamie Van Natta and Felissa De La Concha took it to the wire, with Van Natta winning gold by nailing an X for the win; beating out De La Concha's 10.  Logan Wilde beat out Jean Pizarro 6-4 for the compound men's gold medal as the winds started to become increasingly tough for the archers.

 

Recurve archers didn't disappoint with the shooting excitement either.  USA Archery teammates Brady Ellison and Vic Wunderle squared off in the gold-medal match, with Brady taking the gold in straight sets with a score of 6-0. 

 

Jennifer Nichols, in the final match of the day, provided some gasps of horror from the viewing gallery when she started to let down in the final set with only seconds to spare.  In a flash, she quickly reset back to full draw, and sent her final arrow downrange to get the win and the gold medal, besting Valencia Alejandra from Mexico. 

 

In the end, Team USA scored the highest medal count in the standings, taking home 11 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze medals in both individual and team rounds, for a total of 19 medals.  With their excellent performance in the 2010 AAE Arizona Cup, Team USA is poised to have a prosperous run during the 2010 archery tournament season.

 

 

For the final and official results, please follow the following links:

http://www.ianseo.net/Details.php?toId=57

http://www.azjoad.com/2010azcup/WEB/results.htm

 

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