Coffey captures gold, six Bulldogs named All-Americans at Archery Nationals
STATESBORO, Ga. - A pair of highly competitive Union vs. Union battles produced numerous medals for the Bulldogs, who concluded the 2022-23 season at USA Archery Collegiate Target Nationals, a three-day tournament at Georgia Southern University that wrapped on Sunday.
Kyle Coffey led a group of six All-Americans with a gold medal in Barebow College Men competition, topping teammate Johnathan Stanley 6-2 in the finals on Sunday.
The Bulldogs finished fifth in the 48-team field with a final score 51. The University of the Cumberlands won with 173 points, 20 more than runner-up Texas A&M.
Stanley jumped out to an early lead with a 24-23 win in the opening round of the Barebow finals, but Coffey responded with wins of 25-21, 23-18, 27-25 in the next three. Competitors receive two points for each round they win.
It was the first national title for Coffey and his fourth win in individual Barebow Men's competition during the 2022-23 season.
Stanley was joined on the silver medal podium by Chase Herndon, who earned his second-consecutive All-American finish with a second-place showing in Men's College Compound.
Herndon topped teammate Daniel Carlton by the slimmest of margins in the semifinals, using a 30-29 win in the fifth and final round to win 147-146, before falling 147-145 to Texas A&M's Sawyer Sullivan in Saturday's championship match. It was second-straight, second-place finish at the Collegiate Nationals for Herndon, who was the Fixed Pin Male runner-up a season ago.
Carlton went on to finish third in the event with a 144-140 consolation final win over Blaine Kostrzewski of Cumberlands.
Elsewhere, Carlton, Herndon and Lane Brandt placed third amongst College Compound Men's teams, suffering a narrow 233-232 loss to the eventual team champion from the Cumberlands in the semifinals.
On the women's side, Ashley Coffing, Rachel Flack and Ruthie Masengale took fourth in College Compound play.
All-Americans are determined by taking the average score a competitor earned at the Indoor National Tournament and the Collegiate Target Nationals. The top-10 overall finishers make the All-American team.
UNION ALL-AMERICANS (EVENT, OVERALL FINISH, FINAL AVERAGE SCORE)
Coffey: Barebow Men, 2nd, 16.356
Carlton: Compound Men, 4th, 19.470
Brandt: Compound Men, 6th, 19.453
Coffing: Compound Women, 6th, 18.989
Stanley: Barebow Men, 8th, 14.80
Herndon: Compound Men, 10th, 19.383
This marked the fourth year in a row Brandt made the All-American team. Herndon is now a three-time All-American, while Carlton and Stanley have made it twice.