NOBLESVILLE, Ind. – 'Expect to be challenged' and 'expect the unexpected' was pretty much the mantra heading into the 2025 USA Archery Field Nationals with archers once again tested by the Koteewi Archery Range.
Archers started with 24 unmarked targets on Saturday. Unmarked targets mean the distance to the target is unknown to the archer. On Sunday, they returned to shoot on 24 marked targets.
It was fitting that on Father’s Day, the father and son duo of Gabriel and Andrew Querol were among the medals. Dad Gabe grabbed gold in the recurve 50+ men, with son Andrew taking bronze in recurve men.
The recurve men’s competition included Alejandro Martinez, who only took up the sport six months ago and took on the challenge of field archery head-on. He said with a smile, “I’m pretty competitive by nature, and I’ve already told the guys I was shooting with that I’ll be back next year, and they better watch out.”
Gold in recurve men went to Matthew Nofel, marking his first Field Nationals title. Wife Savannah took gold in recurve women. Ashton Probus took silver in recurve men, to go with the silver he claimed 12 months ago in the men's U21 division.
Defending champions Fawn Girard (barebow women), Dan Jasa (compound men) and Paige Pearce (compound women) all returned and retained their titles.
Posting on social media, Pearce commented, “This will always be one of my favorite events of the year! It’s the most technical game in archery, and so much goes into a solid weekend of fita field!
“I had so much fun with the girls, and I already can’t wait till next time! Thank you to the event organizers for all the hard work that went into the tournament! I know the weather didn’t make it easy.”
The weather certainly added to the level of difficulty, with overnight rain Friday into Saturday and Saturday into Sunday making for trying conditions underfoot and – on some targets – meant donning makeshift waders to pull arrows!
Anna Shearier, from Indiana, finished second to Pearce in compound women. Elsewhere, and another from the Hoosier state, Ryan Davis, went one better this year. Having taken silver in 2024, Davis scored almost 30 points more than the 657 which won Christopher Garcia gold last year to become national champion.
Silver and bronze were separated on a tiebreaker after both Andrew Cousins and Brian Way shot 645. Way had to settle for bronze for the second year in a row.
Eighty-year-old Harold Rush just missed out on a medal in barebow 50+ men, but he did score two points more than last year when winning silver. Allen Knisley was crowned national champion in this category. Melissa McAvoy was a comfortable winner in barebow 50+ women.
Click on the buttons below for all the results, as well as action and podium photos.
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