CHULA VISTA, Calif. – Twenty gold medalists were confirmed on Saturday at the 2025 Easton Foundations SoCal Showdown, with more set for the final day on Sunday.
Though the sun was shining in southern California on Saturday, the swirling summer breeze certainly posed a challenge to the record-breaking number of archers competing at the third event of four in the USAT Qualifier Series.
A morning of qualification for the seniors and 50+ division, from which medals were determined in the para category, was followed by the elimination rounds for the U21 and U18 archers.
Timothy Palumbo got the better of teenage Paralympian Jordan White in the recurve open men. Palumbo took gold with 16-year-old White claiming silver and Frank Galea winning the bronze.
Just two points were the difference between Karen Sternfeld and Candice Caesar in recurve open women, with Sternfeld named champion.
KJ Polish and Wendy Gardner were clear winners in the compound open men and compound open women respectively, as was Paralympic gold medalist Jason Tabansky in W1 open men. Tracy Otto took gold in W1 open women.
Pineapple JOAD were among the medals in the U18 and U21 categories as the afternoon action unfolded. The Arizona-based club took gold in compound U21 men through Ian Wells, bronze in compound U21 women courtesy of Ella O’Brien and gold for Caleb Quiocho in compound U18 men.
Quiocho will be representing the USA at the World Archery Youth Championships in Canada in August. His teammates will include Savannah O’Donohue and Julia Cook. That pair battled it out for gold in the compound U18 women on Saturday afternoon, with O’Donohue winning 139-134.
A one arrow shoot-off determined the gold medalist in recurve U18 men but only after Aarya Arun had fired home a maximum 30 in the fifth set to force the tie-breaker, which he then won.
Riley Adams (Mississippi Archery Academy) fought hard to win barebow U21 women. Having been 4-0 and 5-1 down, she then won the fourth and fifth end before winning via a shoot-off.
There was a contest to decide gold in fixed pins U21 men between the top two seeds. Number two seed Hunter Kizerian triumphed 135-130 over Griffin Witty.
Earlier in the day, James Lutz produced a world-class performance during qualification in compound men. He shot 353 with his first 36 arrows, to then drop just one point with his second set of arrows and a score of 359!
The gold medal matches in the senior division, across barebow, compound and recurve, will be broadcast live on USA Archery’s YouTube channel from 2pm PT on Sunday.
Click on the links below for all the results, plus photos from each session in Chula Vista.
< Back to All News
