The Columbia archery team won every gold medal it competed for at the 2026 USA Archery Collegiate Target Regionals, according to an April 13 announcement. The East Region event took place over the weekend at UREC Turf Field on the campus of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
This achievement is significant as it highlights Columbia’s dominance in both individual and team events across multiple divisions. The Lions captured team gold in women’s recurve, women’s compound, and mixed compound categories. In individual competition, sophomore Alena Lipscomb took gold in the Recurve College Women’s Division, while senior Giselle DeSousa earned gold in the Compound College Women’s Division. Senior Lillian Han won silver and first-year Isabella Kim claimed bronze in recurve.
The Recurve College Women’s Division finals featured an all-Columbia matchup between top-seeded Lipscomb and second-seeded Han. Han led early by winning the first two ends but Lipscomb came back to win the last three ends and secured a dramatic victory with a score of 6-4. In another all-Columbia contest for bronze, Kim prevailed over Mia Shin with a final score of 7-3 after leading most of the match.
In compound competition, DeSousa defeated James Madison’s Aubrey Toothaker by winning all five ends for a final score of 138-132. Sophomore Briana Moore narrowly missed out on bronze against Rowan University’s Delany Chapman with a close result of 133-131.
Columbia also succeeded in team events: Lipscomb, Han, and Michelle Ahn took team gold in recurve; Sydney Sullenberger, DeSousa, and Moore did so in compound; while Sullenberger paired with club archer Cooper Keane to win mixed-team gold. Seven Columbia archers were named to the All-East Team based on combined scores from USA Archery Indoor Nationals and Collegiate Target Regionals.
Looking ahead, Columbia will prepare for Collegiate Target Nationals scheduled for May 15–17 in East Lansing, Michigan.
