HALIFAX, CA – Close to 150 archers took to the shooting range today for the qualification rounds. It’s been a windy week at the BMO Soccer Centre, and today was no exception. The winds were incredibly strong this morning, and while they did temper a little bit in the afternoon, it was constantly a factor. 

Many of the categories were close in scores. Emanuel Luiz Gravano Paulo de Azevedo from Brazil won the recurve U18 men’s category, scoring 622 points. Carlos Vaca of Mexico topped the recurve U21 men’s event with a score of 602, almost 20 points above the second place finisher. Mark Williams (USA) was 15 points above the second place archer in the recurve 50+ men discipline, shooting to a total of 288.

“I knew I was going to shoot low scores, I was okay with that because of the wind. I focused on having fun,” mentions Vaca after the qualification rounds.

It was a tight race in the U18 women’s recurve division, with only 4 points separating Yatana Mora (MEX) from the second place finisher. Ana Luiza Sliachticas Caetano of Brazil led the field in the U21 women division with a score of 611. Susan Bock, one of three Americans in the 50+ women’s recurve competition, led the group with a score of 593. 

“I think my experience helped [me shoot well]. It’s my last year as a youth athlete, so I have a lot of experience in past years,” Caetano said when asked what helped her on the field.

The first two places in the compound U18 women went to the archers from Mexico, Adriana Castillo and Ximena Estrada. American Isabella Otter held a huge lead over the rest of the compound U21 women field with 645, 38 points over the next competitor. Dawn Groszko (CAN) was only one point off Alanna Dunaway’s top-qualifying score of 543. 

“What kept me going, personally, is that I have a couple of mantras in my head. I was really trying to make shots that I was proud of. I would get up to the line, and I thought no matter what happens, when this shot goes off, I’m going to be proud of it,” says Otter.

Jose Cuellar from Mexico was almost 30 points ahead of the rest of the field in the compound U18 men’s category, with a score of 672. Pablo Gomez Zuluaga (COL) shot a score of 676 to win the 1st qualification spot in the U21 men’s category. Meanwhile, in the 50+ division, Chuck Cooley took the first spot with a score of 626.

“My goal today was no misses, and I actually had one and then followed it up with four 10s and an 8,” Cooley reflected on his day. “So it would’ve been a great end without the miss, huh? The whole plan coming in was just to make super strong shots. There’s no finesse about this, it’s get it as close as you can, make it go off without punching, and I felt like i stuck to that really well. It panned out.”

The top barebow U18 men archer (Max Rossiter, USA)  got a score of 464. AJ Turnell (USA) had the sole score in the barebow U21 men category, shooting a score of 314. With 612 points, Rick Stonebraker, an archer from the United States, earned the top spot in the barebow 50+ men category. He was the only person to be on pace to break a world record on the field. 

“With the last week or so leading up to this, we had a lot of wind in our area, so one day I would go up to the archery range where it is enclosed by trees and shoot a decent round where I could actually aim and the next day I would shoot at a church and it was wide open and windy,” Stonebraker comments about preparing to shoot in windy conditions.

The Americans were the only participants in the U18 and U21 women’s barebow division, with Erin Heyob and Anastacia Godman winning the events respectively. Jenifer Stoner (USA) won the 50+ women’s barebow event, with a score of 522.

CANADIAN RESULTS

Liam Bennett, the sole Canadian in the recurve U18 men competition, landed in 11th place with 498 points. In the recurve U21 men event, Benjamen Lee shot his way to 8th place with 552 points and Dawson Molitor earned the 11th spot and a score of 517. Jules Chouinard placed 13th with a score of 497 points, while Dylan Villanueva rounded out this Canadian contingent with a score of 467 and the 15th spot. Janna Hawash shot a score of 585 and earned the 6th spot in the U18 women’s recurve category. Natalee Chan also earned the 6th place with her score of 559 in the U21 division. Lucie Filion competed in the 50+ women’s recurve division, placing 6th as well and shooting a score of 447.

The Canadian recurve U21 men’s team (Chouinard, Lee, Molitor) earned the 2nd qualification place and a score of 1566. Hawash and Bennett, two U18 recurve archers, combined their scores for a total of 1083 and the 5th place. Chan and Lee shot a combined total of 1111 and ended up in 5th place.

“Today was one of the more challenging days on the archery field that I’ve seen in some time,” comments Shawn Riggs, National Recurve Coach. “The Canadian recurve archers fared quite well, they kept their spirits up and stayed on plan for the majority of the day and I think the results reflect that. We’re looking forward to match play and team rounds in the next couple days.”

On the compound side, the women took to the shooting line this morning. Bailey Mathers shot a score of 500, and earned the 5th spot in the U21 women category. There were four women in the U21 event. Chyler Sanders landed the 4th spot (573), Riley Downham was 5th (555), Brynnleigh Lohner earned the 6th spot (504), and Jyotsna Challa was 8th (462). In the 50+ women category, Dawn Groszko was only one point behind the top spot with a score of 542, which earned her a bye in the first round of eliminations. Tricia Oshiro landed the 5th spot with a score of 516. In the afternoon, Emmett Kapaniuk and Keegan Crawford tied in the U18M division with a score of 637, and landed 4th and 5th place respectively. Josten North shot a 539 and landed 10th. Dustin Watson and Isaac Bedford were separated by one point; Watson shot to a score of 661 and Bedford a score of 660. Cameron Palichuk is placed 9th with 641 and Brady Klassen is sitting 11th after 72 arrows totalling 617.

In the youngest age category, the U18 men’s compound team shot a 1813. The mixed team in the same category (Mathers and Kapaniuk) got 1137. The U21 women’s compound team shot a total of 1632. The U21 men’s compound archers totaled 1962. The U21 mixed compound team, composed of Sanders and Watson, shot 144 arrows and earned their score of 1234.

“The spirits are high, it’s a great bunch of athletes, a wonderful venue,” comments Duncan Crawford, Youth compound coach. “Despite very tough conditions, high winds, the athletes worked hard and had decent placing. We’re looking forward to match play with lower winds and better conditions.”

Lloyd Polack was the sole Canadian in the 50+ men’s barebow class; he shot a 530 and earned the 4th spot. There were two Canadians in the 50+ women barebow class; Lora-Lee Murray shot a score of 431 (4th place) and Angela scored 386 (5th place). 

Murray and Polack make up the only Canadian barebow team in this competition, and they score 961 points to earn the second place.

The elimination rounds start tomorrow, with individual and then team matches on Saturday. After that, all gold medal matches will take place on Sunday.

All results can be found here: https://info.ianseo.net/?tourid=546

This event is made possible with the support of the Government of Canada, the Province of Nova Scotia, and the City of Halifax.

For more information, please contact:

Zoe Meil, Communications & Safe Sport Coordinator

zmeil@archerycanada.ca

(613) 260-2113 ext. 3

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