YANKTON, S.D. – The 36 archers who will return to Yankton in the fall for the World Archery Field Championships were confirmed after two grueling days at the Gavin’s Point Archery Range, with U.S. Team Trials running alongside USA Archery Field Nationals.
The USA team includes a husband-and-wife pairing, Olympians, world record holders, a three-peat champion and a whole crop of up-and-coming young talent.
Paige Pearce has won the compound women’s title the last three occasions and will be eager to make it four in a row when the world’s best arrive in South Dakota in September.
She said, “You know what it’s like when you have people saying ‘do it a third time’; the number three felt like it carried a little bit more weight. It’s like ‘four’ doesn’t quite have the same feel but to me the pressure is still building and it matters.
“Field’s my favorite game. It’s always been my favorite game, so anytime we get to shoot it, I’m pretty happy so I’m looking forward to another chance.”
The 2026 World Archery Field Championships will take place at the same location as the U.S. Trials, from September 22-27, and Pearce admits that should aid preparation.
“If we’d have shot these trials on the flat courses, it’s not teaching us a whole lot. But you learn to practice the cuts again and your framing and extreme angles, so all of that I think was really beneficial heading into Worlds.”
Two of the three archers to qualify in recurve women will be making their World Archery Field Championships debut. One is Olympic bronze medalist, Casey Kaufhold, while the other is Nicole Rasor. Rasor competes in the 50+ division at USAT Qualifier Series events but will join Kaufhold and Alexandria Zuleta-Visser back in Yankton with international honors on the line.
Kaufhold is not the only Olympian on the recurve women’s team. Rasor represented Austria at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, albeit in the sport of diving.
“The first round (of Field Nationals) I had a really hard time,” Rasor commented. “I had to get adjusted to the all the ups and downs, the hiking, and I was just not myself and then round two and the Trials I shot the best I’ve ever shot, came back and I’ve made the team.”
Rasor is in a group that includes 22-year-old Kaufhold and 27-year-old Zuleta-Visser. By the time the World Field Championships come around, Rasor will be 61, and she is determined to be fitter, stronger and better come September.
She added with a smile, “I’m really proud to have made the team and between now and the Worlds I’m going to get into even better shape, so I can keep up with all the young ones.”
Recurve men will be led by defending world champion, Brady Ellison. He is joined by Matthew Nofel, a two-time medalist at the World Field Championships, winning silver in 2022 and bronze two years ago. Ashton Probus completes the recurve men trio. He steps up to the senior event having won U21 mixed team bronze with Hailey Franzone two years ago.
Franzone will be joined by Abigail Kippes and Emma Berkshire as the recurve U21 women’s representatives. All three hail from the state of Arizona.
While Matthew Nofel will compete for the USA in recurve, his wife Savannah will contest the compound women’s division alongside Pearce and Cassidy Cox.
The three compound men will be James Lutz, Gaius Carter and Dan Jasa. The first two names will be making their first appearance at the World Field Championships, with Jasa heading to his fourth. Lutz is one of the form compound archers on the world stage, having set a new world record earlier this year at the Easton Foundations Gator Cup.
There are World Archery Youth Championship medalists among the compound U21 names, including Grady Kane (pictured above), Dewey Hathaway – also a double compound U21 gold medalist at the previous World Field Championships - Julia Cook and Khloe Markle. Christopher Fong and Ella O’Brien complete what is a strong compound U21 group for the United States.
All three of the barebow men – Robby Weissinger, Ryan Davis and Christopher Garcia - have previous experience at this event. Davis was a barebow mixed team silver medalist in 2024.
In contrast none of the three barebow women has featured at the World Field Championships previously, though in Ava Jones they have a teenage talent which keeps getting better and better, while Erin Hollom has already won on the USAT Qualifier Series this year. The barebow women is completed by Allison Li.
Jacob Olmstead was on the team for the 2024 edition in barebow U21 men and is joined this time around by 2024 Pan American Youth and Masters Championships medalists, Gabriel Urgelles and Anthony Malik.
Three more U.S. debutants in this event will contest barebow U21 women, namely 14-year-old Chloe Crandall, Sydney Clardy – who will shoot for the University of Rio Grande starting in the fall – and McKenna Smith, top seed and silver medalist at the 2026 Gator Cup.
Thanks to the generosity of the Lancaster Archery Foundation, each archer who is selected and confirms their participation at the World Archery Field Championships will receive a $500 stipend.
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