The Texas A&M Target Archers took top leads in multiple categories while hosting the 54th USA Indoor Archery Nationals Feb. 24-26 at the Physical Education Activity Program building.
A&M archers took three of the top four spots in recurve senior men category with nutrition junior Venugopal Kunnavakkam taking second with a total score of 1,162, manufacturing and mechanical engineering technology senior Trenton Cowles and biomedical sciences senior Nikolas Swidryk taking third and fourth respectively. They were the top-three recurve collegiate men, according to BetweenEnds.com.
Visualization freshman Casey Kaufhold placed first in the recurve senior women and recurve collegiate women with a total score of 1,176 out of 1,200, followed by sports management senior Riley Marx, mechanical engineering senior Hannah Flores and business administration freshman Abigail Rutledge, according to BetweenEnds.com.
“I was close to a [personal] record, but I did not quite get it, although I am still very happy with how I shot.” Kaufold said, winner of the silver medal in women’s individual event at the World Archery Championships in 2021. “To be close to record is awesome and it just makes me hungrier for the next one.” General studies freshman Sawyer Sullivan, the No. 1 Junior Olympic Archery Development archer in the country, placed first in compound senior men and compound collegiate men with the total score of 1,195, while aerospace engineering senior Ethan Merrill took second. Petroleum engineering sophomore Logan Hamilton scored third in the compound collegiate men and fifth in compound senior men while manufacturing & mechanical engineering technology senior Quenten Noelke placed fifth in compound collegiate men, according to BetweenEnds.com.
Industrial engineering senior Wallace Woodlief placed first in barebow senior men and collegiate men followed by computer science junior Conner Kaufhold making fifth and second place in these categories. Pharmacy third-year Brooke de la Sota came in fifth place for barebow senior women and first in barebow collegiate women.
Biomedical sciences senior Andy Chiu and general engineering sophomore Gage McCallum made it in the top four in fixed pin collegiate men while marketing graduate student Macy Wolf, mechanical engineering senior Ashlyn Brooke Willhite, biology senior Landry Brown and mechanical engineering junior Kendall Copeland made it in the top five in fixed pin collegiate women, according to BetweenEnds.com.
“The top eight in every division — overall not collegiate — go to what is called a shootdown and they go to a tournament in Louisville and shoot for money,” Frank Thomas, one of three coaches for Texas Archers, said.
Kaufhold placed first for combined recurve women, Sullivan placed second in combined compound men, Merrill made it in the top eight for combined compound men and mechanical engineering senior Alex Gilliam placed in the top eight for combined recurve men, according to BetweenEnds.com
“The best want to come to Texas A&M because it has a reputation of being the best, and we are proud of these athletes for what they have accomplished and for what they will accomplish,” Thomas said.
For more information, visit TAMUArchery.com or follow the team @TAMUTargetArchers on Instagram.
Lilian Potempa is a recreation, park and tourism sciences junior and contributed this article from JOUR 359 Reporting Sports class to The Battalion.