Patience was key on day one of the Buckeye Classic, as Mother Nature held up the start of qualification for more than three hours before the cadet and junior divisions got us underway.
Highlights from the Darree Soccer Fields just north of Columbus came in the recurve U18 women, where the leading four archers were separated by only three points, with Isabella Kim heading into Saturday’s elimination rounds as the number one seed.
Isaac Sullivan topped the compound U21 men thanks to a blistering 357 from his first 36 arrows. He finished with 708, seven ahead of Harrison Milne.
The fixed pins U18 men qualification was dominated by Adam Curran. His score of 651 was 79 better than the next best, Griffin Witty.
There were familiar names among the leading seeds in the recurve U21 women, including Abigail Kippes, Samantha Ensign, Grace Lum and Charvika Gopi.
Nine points split the top four in the compound U21 women, which included the winner of the previous USAT Series Qualifier event, the SoCal Showdown, Bella Otter.
Jacob Robinson, victorious at the SoCal Showdown, is the man to beat in the recurve U21 men, having finished first after qualification, by 13 points from Jack Krengel.
Erin Heyob has picked up where she left off in the barebow U21 women. She is another winner from the SoCal Showdown to top the list after qualification in Dublin.
Archers had just finished their practice ends on Friday morning, and were gearing up to kick into qualification, only for the threat of lightning to force competitors to their vehicles as proceedings were held up until early afternoon.
The Buckeye Classic continues on Saturday, starting with the seniors and masters qualification, followed by cadet and junior elimination rounds. Jim Ploen will be competing in the recurve 50+ men. Ploen has been competing in archery since 1949 and will be 96 in October!
A full list of scores, as well as target details for day two, can be found on BetweenEnds website. There is also a gallery of images from the Buckeye Classic on USA Archery’s SmugMug page.
There are barebow, compound, fixed pins, recurve, para compound, para recurve, para V.I. and para W1 disciplines. USA Archery will live stream the senior gold medal matches across barebow, compound and recurve on Sunday afternoon, from 2pm ET.
The United States Archery Team (USAT) Qualifier Series are outdoor archery tournaments that deliver a high level of excitement and competition! USAT Qualifier Series Events are open to archers who are seeking national competition experience and want the excitement of competing alongside World Champions and Olympic medalists.