By Cindy Sandoval, USFWS
To select the U.S. archers for the 2024 Olympic Games, athletes are chosen based on their performance at specific Olympic Trial Qualification events. These trials, known as stages, take place around the country with six Olympic stages and three Paralympic stages. Stages for both Olympic and Paralympic qualification take place at the Arizona Cup hosted at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix, Arizona. Ben Avery is one of over 200 archery ranges that have been designed, constructed, renovated, or opened to the public with the support of manufacture excise tax funding through the Pittman-Robertson Act. These funds are administered through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Conservation Investment.
For decades, American archery manufacturers have shared a partnership with state and federal biologists through the Pittman-Robertson Act, this partnership funds conservation efforts and expands archery opportunities. The excise tax paid by archery equipment manufactures provide places for current archers to hone their skills and a safe and welcoming place for newcomers to explore the shooting sports. The Ben Avery Shooting Facility, owned and managed by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, is one of the largest publicly operated shooting facilities in the country offering ranges for firearms and archery. Located in north Phoenix, the facility averages more than 230,000 sporting arms and archery shooters per year. Ben Avery Shooting Facility’s operation and maintenance costs are funded through the income generated from user fees and manufacture excise tax through Pittman-Robertson funds. “PR funds are extremely important to the operations of Ben Avery, they offset the costs of 50 full and part time employees and the maintenance across the 1650-acre facility that program income does not cover,” said Mike Raum, Shooting Sports Branch Chief for Arizona Game and Fish. “PR funds are also how the facility funds one time enhancement projects, range improvements and infrastructure upgrades.” Upgrades and enhancement projects ensure that facilities can grow interest in target shooting and provide updated facility to host competitions.
The Ben Avery Shooting Facility has hosted the Arizona Cup since 2001 after the event grew in popularity and expanded beyond its founding location at Arizona State University. Leading up to the Olympics, the Arizona Cup serves as a stage of the Olympic Trials Qualification events and a stage of the Paralympic Trials Qualification events. “USA Archery AZ, the Arizona Cup’s host organization, started out with the Stage 3 Qualification event of the Olympic Trials on April 2nd hosting the top 16 recurve men and women in the U.S. We cut to the top 8 on April 3rd before heading into Stage 4 happening during the Arizona Cup,” adds Raum. “In addition, we were hosting Stage 1 of the Paralympic trials during the Arizona Cup over April 4th and April 5th.” The qualifier trials to make the Olympic team are open to anyone who officially registers for the event and meets the eligibility requirements in the Olympic Games Athlete Selection Procedures established by USA Archery and World Archery. Overall, 724 total competitors were hosted at Ben Avery for the Arizona Cup with the adult portion having 361 competitors and 363 youth competitors.
After the arrows were fired and the scores were tallied, three-time Olympic medalist Brady Ellison came out on top of the men’s recurve senior competition at the Arizona Cup. Casey Kaufhold, currently ranked number one in the world for women’s recurve bow, took first place in the women’s recurve senior category. Thanks to the scores achieved at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility and other trial events, Ellison and Kaufhold are off to represent the U.S.A. in Olympic archery. There they will join archers Catalina GNoriega, Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez, Trenton Cowles, and Jack Williams all hoping to bring home medals. Five athletes who also competed in the Arizona Cup qualified for the Paralympics including Matt Stutzman, Tracy Otto, KJ Polish, Eric Bennett and Jordan White, a 15-year-old who became the youngest U.S. archer to ever qualify for a Paralympics.
Often following the Olympic games there is an increased interest in archery and Ben Avery Shooting Facility’s staff is ready to welcome anyone wanting to try target shooting. Local Junior Olympic Archery Development clubs utilize the range for their youth development program for kids looking to get involved in archery. Target shooters of all ages and abilities are welcome at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility and the facility hosts monthly 3-D fun shoots along with other events for archers. Thanks to the partnership between manufactures and state and federal fish and wildlife agencies the Ben Avery Shooting Facility and hundreds of other ranges will continue to welcome new target shooters, provide a place for shooting sports participants to practice, and host competitions for those chasing Olympic dreams.