US pair Clayton, Ruiz lead compound junior qualifying

The USA’s Jesse Clayton and Alexis Ruiz secured the compound junior men’s and women’s top individual seeds at the 2017 World Archery Youth Championships in Rosario, Argentina, with 695 and 691 points out of a possible 720 for the 50-metre ranking round.

Clayton and Ruiz’ field-leading scores helped the USA top qualification in the compound junior mixed team, men’s team and women’s team events, too.

“I was just making strong shots and shooting my bow. My average is high 40s and 50s but this is the first time I’ve shot 350 in tournament,” said Alexis, who dropped just 10 points over the back half. “It’s not my best but really close to being my best.”

Jesse added: “It was nerve wracking at first but once I’d kind of settled in my shots were breaking great and I figured out the tricky wind it, just, went good.”

Clayton, who is coached by Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion Braden Gellenthien, is only 16 years of age and shooting in the junior division despite being eligible to compete as a cadet.

“I was shooting USAT, the American national circuit, and I was shooting junior and I was shooting great. I figured that if I step up and challenge myself then I might shoot better,” he explained. “My expectation here is to win.”

Jesse’s 695 came in ahead of Viktor Orosz (693), Curtis Broadnax (689), Alexis Tombul and Nico Wiener (688) in the compound junior men’s ranking.

Orosz said he was happy with his first half, a 353-point 36 arrows, but made mistakes in the second, concluding: “I’ve never lost a world championships from the second seed.”

Ruiz (691) was the only compound junior woman to shoot over 690 points. She was followed by Gizem Elmaagacli (689), Sarah Moon (684), Cassidy Cox (679), and Esmeralda Sanchez, Evelien Groeneveld and Nora Valdez (677).

The 2017 World Archery Youth Championships run 2 to 10 October in Rosario, Argentina.

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