USA selects World Indoor Championships team

USA selects World Indoor Championships team King of Prussia (USA) – 9 January 2012   The team that will represent the United States in the upcoming World Archery Indoor Championships has been selected. It includes world champion Reo WILDE, World Cup gold medallist Christie COLIN, number one world ranked male archer Brady ELLISON, and two-time Olympian Jennifer NICHOLS, along with many young archery stars. The US Team will seek to defend seven gold medals from 2009.   Braden GELLENTHIEN (photo) broke two new national records in the compound men's qualifications of the World Archery Indoor Championships Team Trials held in King of Prussia (USA) on 7 January 2012. He shot a 599 (equalling the world record held by the Canadian Christopher PERKINS) for the second half of the double 60 arrow ranking round, and 1197 overall. All of the archers competing showed strong determination to make the World Archery Indoor Championships Team, which will travel to Las Vegas next month (5-9 February) to compete with teams from across the world in the World Championships event.    Many of the team berths were hotly contested throughout the weekend, with archers changing positions within the top eight repeatedly based on wins or losses in the round robin matches, as well as the arrow average score. Some of the tightest races in the top three included the showdown between female compound archers Tristan SKARVAN and Stephanie GALLAGHER, who were tied at the end for the third team position; SKARVAN punched her ticket to Las Vegas with the match win, joining COLIN and Erika ANSCHUTZ on the team.    For the men's compound, WILDE and GELLENTHIEN were locked in a back and forth contest throughout the day, but WILDE managed to pull just ahead in the final matches. James BUTTS will join them at the World Championships in what will be his second World Championships for the USA, having competed also in 1999 (world champion in Cuba!).    On the recurve side, NICHOLS and Pan American Games teammate Miranda LEEK also fought for the first team spot, with NICHOLS eventually securing top position; newcomer Brandi DELOACH took the third berth in a strong performance that surprised spectators.   For the recurve men, Jake KAMINSKI took the lead from ELLISON for part of the day, but was unable to edge out the Olympian for first place. In third is Victor WUNDERLE, three-time Olympian and two-time Olympic medallist. Together, the team will seek to defend the World Championship title won by ELLISON, WUNDERLE and Staten HOLMES in 2009.    The US has historically found success at the World Indoor Championships, bringing home a total of seven gold medals at the 2009 event in Poland. However, the last individual recurve gold medal won by a US archer was taken in 1993 by Jennifer O'DONNELL, and the US has never claimed an individual recurve male World Archery Indoor Championships title…   Setting the bar high for himself is ELLISON, who will compete in his seventh World Championship next month. "I shot a little better than I expected to this weekend," he explained following the competition. "I have a bow that's shooting absolutely awesome and we have a really good team, too. The World Championships are at home, and we don't get that very often, so we're all going to train as hard as we can."    The World Archery Indoor Championships 2012 will kick off in Las Vegas (USA) on 5 February with official practice, and competition beginning on 6 February. The event, co-hosted by USA Archery and the National Field Archery Association (NFAA) at the Southpoint Hotel and Casino, is expected to draw over 350 of the world's best archers.   Visit www.worldarcheryindoor.com or www.worldarchery.org for more information. Click here for complete results from the USA team selection event.    Source: USA Archery Media contact: Teresa IACONI, tiaconi@usarchery.org Edited by World Archery Communication