MARRAKESH, Morocco - Just a few short weeks after wrapping a long 2017 outdoor archery season at the World Archery Championships, the international indoor season kicked off this weekend with the first stage of the Indoor Archery World Cup series in Morocco.
While many of the expected top performers were not present for this stage, especially on the recurve side, the compound men's division was packed with heavy hitters and several U.S. juniors joined the archers in Africa for a very cool international event experience.
The competition began today with qualification, a cut to the top 32 in each division, and the first elimination match. Tomorrow will consist of the remaining elimination matches through semifinals in the morning, and all finals matches in the afternoon.
Paige Pearce Gore led the compound women's division today, ranking first with a 592, just ahead of teammate Cassidy Cox, who came in fifth with a 584. USA's Christine Harrelson ranked 9th with a 578.
Gore shared on social media: "So excited with how today went here at the first Indoor World Cup of the season! I was able to qualify 1st with a 293 and a 299! For those of you that know me well, you know that indoor has always been a struggle. But I decided that I'm done struggling and I am going to work hard this season to improve my indoor game. Day 1 is in the books and I'm happy that I was actually able to stay focused and composed in all of the scoring ends today. Tomorrow is head to head matches, and that's where the real fun begins!"
In the junior competition, compound archer Caroline McCracken qualified 2nd with a 570, while Madison Devencenzi's 535 put her 3rd in the most competitive youth bracket on the range: the recurve junior women.
In the highly competitive compound men's competition, USA's Braden Gellenthien led after the first half with a 299, and a 297 in the second half saw him finish 3rd in qualification. Reo Wilde's 584 put him 12th, while Jesse Clayton and Brad Rega qualified 16th and 18th respectively with 582 and 580.
With a perfect 150, Gellenthien cleared his first match, as did Wilde and Clayton with matching 147s. Rega and No. 15 seed Whittingham of Great Britain tied 143-143 to force a shoot off, where Whittingham's 10 took the win to advance.
Matthew Requa qualified sixth with a 574 in the recurve men's division and cleared his first round match with a 6-0 knockout.
Competition resumes tomorrow with individual elimination matches through the finals. Live results are available at www.worldarchery.org. For more, follow USA Archery on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Photo: World Archery
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