Filipina Bianca Gotuaco defeated teammate Christine Kim, 6-2, in an all-Columbia final to capture the individual recurve gold and lead the Lions to a sweep in the US National Outdoor Collegiate Championships in Chula Vista, California Sunday.
“I am very happy and very proud of our team,” said the 20-year-old Gotuaco, who capped her sophomore season with the Columbia Lions with her first collegiate national title. “I know we deserved it, but I’m still very shocked. We worked so hard this year – our practices were very productive now that we have a dedicated practice space and we’ve had better weather so we were able to prepare very well. I think we’re all very happy with how we did.”
Kim settled for silver while another teammate Aileen Yu took the bronze by defeating Cassandra Pelton of Georgia Southern, 6-4.
The Columbia archery team also topped the compound division, marking the second time in three years that the Lions had reigned supreme in both division of the National Outdoor Collegiate Archery Championships.
Behind the stellar performances of Gotuaco, Kim and Yu, the Lions defeated rival Texas A&M in the finals round of the recurve to win the program’s sixth national championship in the division.
“Our hard work this year really paid off,” said Columbia team captain Joy Chang.
Gotuaco, a veteran of the World Archery Championships, earlier took the silver in recurve in the Eastern Regional Outdoor Collegiate Championships in Virginia.
