Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Lancaster Archery Classic Breaks Records

The 2023 Lancaster Archery Classic was one for the record books. Record attendance and record scores.

Nearly 2,700 archers from all over the world attended the four-day tournament Jan. 26-29 at the Spooky Nook Sports Complex in Manheim, Pa.

That’s a record attendance for the Classic and includes a record 700 youth archers who participated in the Easton Youth & Collegiate Trophy Tournament, which is its own even within the Classic.

Fifteen-year-old Bodie Turner from Washington took home the tournament’s top prize of $20,000 – plus contingency money – in the Open Pro division. He narrowly defeated Kris Schaff of Montana, who wound up in second place.

In qualificatios for the Open Pro division, Turner shot a perfect score of 660 – putting all 60 arrows in the center 11-ring – on Thursday. This was the second year in a row Turner accomplished that feat, which was only the fourth time in the 19 years of the tournament’s existence.

On Friday, Zach Plonsky of Wisconsin matched Turner’s perfect score to post the Classic’s fifth-ever 660. It was the first time ever that the Classic had two perfect scores in the same tournament.

After finishing second the two previous years, Bowtech pro Paige Pearce of California finally got her first Classic win in the Women’s Open Pro division.

Rounding out the pro winners, Bill Drake of Oregon won the Masters Open Pro title. Drake went into the finals as the fourth seed and defeated each of the other three higher-ranked archers to take the title.

In Olympic Recurve, multi-Classic champion Brady Ellison took the men’s title, while Casey Kaufhold claimed her third title in the women’s division.

Full results from the tournament can be found by clicking here.

Competition Archery Media broadcast the finals from all 17 divisions live Saturday and Sunday. Additionally, Lancaster Archery Supply’s video team produced live streams from each qualification line Thursday and Friday, as well as from the elimination matches Saturday morning.

All of the live video content produced at the 2023 Classic can be viewed by clicking here. Over the next several days, the Lancaster Archery video team will break up the finals matches for each of the 17 divisions into individual videos, and will add them to the playlist.

For photos from all days of the Classic, click here. Photos from the Easton Youth & Collegiate Trophy Tournament can be found within that link by clicking here for Saturday and here for Sunday.