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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado - The United States Archery Team, "USAT", consists of the best master, senior, para, junior and cadet archers in the country, selected based on performance in national and USAT series events over a yearlong season that travels the United States.
Making USAT is a tremendous accomplishment that reflects countless hours and arrows of practice, travel and competition. Athletes who compete on the USAT event circuit do an amazing balancing act of school, work, family, friends and countless other commitments. It takes a great amount of time, effort and personal sacrifice and the dedication required to reach this level of success is significant.
Beyond the prestige of making the USAT, archers earn the right to wear USA across their backs on a special team jersey, and are provided discounts and products from generous USA Archery Sponsors.
The 2020 national event season weathered great challenges and uncertainty in the face of the global health pandemic. Events and club practices were cancelled, postponed and rescheduled as the situation fluctuated across the nation.
To prioritize the health and safety of the archery community, USA Archery instituted enhanced safety protocols and worked closely with event organizers to ensure events met local and state public health guidelines. With input from the archery community, USA Archery Board of Directors and Advisory Councils, USA Archery also made changes to the USAT qualification procedures, and froze early 2021 international team selection, so that no athlete would feel the need to compete this year if it was not in the best interest of themselves or their families.
For the senior recurve men, for the first time in a long time, a new name tops the rankings at the end of 2020; Jack Williams set a new world record in his first qualification round of the season, and went on to win bronze at the U.S. Open, and the champion title at the Buckeye Classic and Gator Cup. Casey Kaufhold retained her spot atop the senior recurve women's rankings with the National Target Champion title and gold at the SoCal Showdown among other notable national performances.
Paige Pearce regained the number one spot for the compound senior women, with podium finishes at every national event this season, including gold at the Buckeye Classic. World No. 1 Braden Gellenthien held tight to his top spot for the compound senior men among a competitive field of talent.
Isabella Frederick had a stellar season, coming out on top for the recurve junior women, making the finals for every USAT event, including a gold finish at the SoCal Showdown and silver at the Buckeye Classic. Buckeye gold medalist Carter Merchant, who also podiumed at the Gator Cup, tops the men's rankings.
Kate Iodice also had a command performance this season, earning a spot in the finals at all USAT events, culminating in a gold win at Gator Cup to rank first for the compound junior women. SoCal Showdown 4thplace finisher Chancelor Stonecipher is the sole archer nominated to the compound junior men's USAT.
Amidst highly competitive recurve cadet fields at all events this year, Emma Kim came out ahead of the women with a strong scoring lead from gold at Buckeye Classic and silver at SoCal Showdown. Doheyon Kim also finished first for the men, with notable finishes including gold at Buckeye Classic and bronze at SoCal Showdown.
For the compound cadets, Buckeye Classic gold medalist Cole Zeug topped the men's rankings while Makenzie Weatherspoon ranked first for the women with a silver finish at Indoor Nationals and Buckeye Classic and gold at the SoCal Showdown.
With USA Archery Field and JOAD Target Nationals cancelled for 2020, barebow youth rankings were frozen for the year, and seniors and masters included 2019 field nationals rankings in this year's USAT qualification. Jason Lintner and Melody Richards claimed the top ranking spot for the seniors and Rick Stonebraker and Jenifer Stoner were the top ranked barebow masters. Olivia Artz, Nathanael Cartwright and Margaret Baus top the 2021 youth barebow USATs.
With the changes for 2021, Para USAT rankings were frozen, so Emma Rose Ravish and Michael Lukow remain atop the recurve open rankings, Martha Chavez and Benjamin Thompson stay No. 1 for compound open and Lisa Coryell and Jason Tabansky are the top ranked W1 archers.
USA Archery congratulates our archers on another outstanding season, especially those who made the USAT selection. See the full 2021 USAT.
Note: Based on current USAT rankings, athletes are eligible to be placed on USAT for 2021 pending verification of membership and additional requirements including a signed athlete agreement, current Background Screen and SafeSport certification. USAT will not be finalized until these criteria are verified; should any athletes fail to meet requirements, no other athletes will be named to the team in their place.
About USA Archery
USA Archery is the National Governing Body for the Olympic sport of archery in the United States. USA Archery selects and trains Olympic, Paralympic, World Championship, and World Cup teams, as well as developing archery at the grassroots level across the United States. For more information, visit www.usarchery.org.
Media Contact
Sarah Boyd
201.919.8050