CHULA VISTA, Calif. – A record-breaking Easton Foundations SoCal Showdown brought a whole load of firsts as it came to a close in southern California on Sunday afternoon.
Beretta McKee was only appearing in her second USAT Qualifier Series Event, and her first in the senior division. The 19-year-old marked it with gold in compound women, when she defeated Leann Drake, who was appearing in a senior gold medal match for the first time.
There was also senior gold for 16-year-old Medina Otajagic in barebow women and a first USAT Qualifier Series success for Alex de Vera in barebow men.
Elsewhere, Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez made it back-to-back wins in recurve women, having triumphed last month at the Easton Foundations Salt Lake Summit, while Mike Schloesser (NED) again got the better of James Lutz in compound men. Schloesser also came out on top when the pair met in April in the final of the Easton Foundations Gator Cup.
Jack Williams claimed a USAT Series Qualifier gold for the first time since the 2024 SoCal Showdown with a 6-4 victory over Nicholas D'Amour in what were trying conditions for all archers.
"The whole match was very wind-dependent," Williams commented. "This is a field both Nick (D'Amour) and I are very familiar with, and you get a lot of what we saw. You kind of pick your spot and go."
With their wins, McKee, Otajagic, de Vera and Williams all secure a place at the USAT Series Final, which will be held in Springfield, Mo. on August 12.
"That's going to be a really cool thing," Williams added. "We've done something like indoors but never outdoors, so I'm super excited."
McKee won compound U21 women at the Salt Lake Summit, choosing to shoot in the youth edition of the event because her schedule did not allow for her to register for the senior competition, with the two taking place across different weekends. There was no such issue for SoCal Showdown and so not only did she step up to the senior division but she went on to take gold.
McKee said, "I decided to shoot in the senior division because I shoot all the Pro classes both indoors and field, so I was shooting with all the same girls that I usually do.
"This week, I didn't have a whole lot of expectations. As it was my first senior class, it was a case of just getting experience, getting out there and seeing how it goes."
Otagic was another to step into the USAT senior spotlight, coming from 2-0 and 4-2 down to edge Cindy Czako 6-4 in barebow women. De Vera had endured a number of near misses, previously forced to settle for silver, but a quarterfinal win over defending champion Marcus Cooley set him on the path to a 7-1 victory against Lance Leong and his maiden USAT Qualifier Series gold!
Jordan White (Para Recurve Men) and Harley Montgomery (barebow U18 women) are the only two archers to maintain a perfect record in the 2026 USAT Qualifier Series. Brody Terry (compound U15 men) won at Gator Cup and Salt Lake Summit but was denied a third win with silver at California.
Reigning champions who were able to successfully defend their title included Nicole Rasor (recurve 50+ women), Karen Sternfeld (para recurve women) and KJ Polish (para compound men). The compound 50+ men from 2025, Stephen Wagner, took silver, behind the former world number two, Jozef Bozansky (SVK). For Zuleta-Visser in recurve women, silver was a repeat of 2025, when she also took second spot.
You can see all the results here, while viewing the action images from each session.