NEWBERRY, Fla. – Team Rounds wrapped up on Thursday afternoon at the 2026 Easton Foundations Gator Cup but not before whetting the appetite for the main course, which is and set to be the largest in the event’s 17-year history.
Almost 800 archers will compete on the fields of the Easton Newberry Archery Center, smashing the previous record by some considerable margin.
This year, Gator Cup is the first stop on the USAT Qualifier Series circuit and will once again have a high-quality field across barebow, compound , fixed pins and recurve.
Among those in town over the next three days will be members of the USA team which collected a total of five medals in Mexico earlier this month from the Hyundai Archery World Cup Stage #1.
There are also international archers present, seeking to flex their outdoor archery muscles, including recurve men’s world number one, Marcus D’Almeida (BRA) and compound men's top archer, Mike Schloesser (NED). D'Almeida will surely face a challenge for honors from a whole host of U.S. talent, among them world number two, Brady Ellison, fresh from gold in Mexico, as well as Christian Stoddard and Jack Williams who - along with Ellison – claimed recurve men’s team gold last weekend.
Catalina GNoriega arrives in Florida sitting at number 12 in the world, her highest-ever ranking. She finished seventh in Mexico, with a win over teammate Casey Kaufhold among her victories. Kaufhold is the women’s world number two, but it was GNoriega who walked off with Gator Cup gold last year. Kaufhold took bronze.
A shootoff was needed to separate Schloesser and Mathias Fullerton (DEN) in the compound men’s gold medal match 12 months ago. Schloesser is back to defend his title but can expect tough competition from the likes of James Lutz, Stephan Hansen and Louis Price.
There is an equally strong field in compound women. Contenders for the Gator Cup crown will be Alexis Ruiz, Olivia Dean, Liko Arreola, Kaylee Gurney and Sachiko Keane – a two-time winner last year in the USAT Qualifier Series.
Alex de Vera was a silver medalist at Gator Cup in 2024 and will be one to watch in barebow men, while Cindy Czako and Kay Earls bring bags of experience but the young talent that is Abigail Sparpaglione may have a say in podium placings.
Paralympians Jason Tabansky and Tracy Otto are involved in W1 Open. Compound open men have a deep field with a good number of top archers. KJ Polish heads U.S. talent, but there will be challengers from home and abroad. Richard Burkett, Ephraim Tonn-Bourg, Benjamin Thompson, Christopher Hall and 2016 Paralympic Games gold medalist Andre Shelby are just some of the home hopefuls, while Canada has Kyle Tremblay and Daniel Comeau representing them.
There is international experience in compound open women, which includes Brandi Iannoli, Catalina Bustamante, Wendy Gardner and the up-and-coming Sophia Grayson.
The recurve open division also has its fair share of quality and experience. Paralympian Jordan White is among the men’s contenders, while Karen Sternfeld’s recent trip to the World Archery Para Series in Thailand may afford her an advantage as rivals step back to outdoor competition for the first time with Gator Cup.
Mark Williams will once again be the man to beat in recurve 50+. The Florida native has lost only once in the last five visits, losing the gold medal match to Thomas Stevenson in 2022. Williams won in 2021 and arrives in Newberry as the three-time defending champion.
Janis Grellner is aiming for three in a row in recurve 50+ women; George Ryals IV and Richard Burkett Jr. are again expected to battle for top honors in compound 50+ men while there will be a new champion in compound 50+ women. The 2024 and 2025 champion, Tamara Fontenot is not competing, but last year’s silver medalist Patty Hoppe is back eager to go one better.
Melvin Powell is set to defend his barebow 50+ title, as is Melissa McAvoy in barebow 50+ women. The silver medalists from 2025 – Johannes Gildenhuys and Florida’s Tracey Francis – will be among the archers eager to deny a repeat.
The youth divisions are stacked with impressive archers including triple World Youth gold medalists, Savannah O’Donohue (compound U21 women), plus a good number heading to the Pan American Youth and Masters Championships next month – Amy Lee, Madelyn Yi (both recurve U18 women), Jack Chen, Nicholas Kim, Liam Lee (all recurve U18 men), Elizabeth Ahn, Eliana Son (both recurve U21 women), Elys Matus (compound U21 women), Easton Bishop, Maverick Lewis (both compound U18 men), Gracelyn Sinclair (compound U18 women), Sykes Lamensdorf, Pranav Sanjay (both barebow U18 men), Ayana Butt (barebow U18 women), Anirudhkalyan Pinjala, Alain Pinto (both recurve U15 men), Paige Lee (recurve U15 women), Tucker Craig (compound U15 men), Mattingly Walker (compound U15 women), and Ekaterina Subbotina (barebow U15 women).
Maddison Stratton has stepped up an age category in fixed pins women. The U18 gold medalist from 2025 will this year be competing in U21, as will 2025 silver medalist, Audrey Overton.
Chase Manor took silver in fixed pins U18 a year ago and is back to hopefully improve upon that, while Sebastian Jane will be another contender having finished fourth in 2025.
There is the additional U15 age class this year, helping to make this the biggest Gator Cup on record!
You can follow the latest scores and results here, while viewing the action images from each session.
There is live coverage of the senior gold medal matches in barebow, compound and recurve on Sunday afternoon on USA Archery’s YouTube channel, starting at 1.45pm.
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