DaytonDailyNews.com

Erika Anschutz of Hamilton won a bronze medal and set two new world records as a member of the U.S. Archery Team that competed in the 44th World Outdoor Target Archery Championship, which was held in Leipzig, Germany July 7-15.

Erika will be a sophomore this coming fall at Miami University, where she is majoring in psychology.

The tournament, which is held once every two years, was attended by a record number of 558 archers, representing 84 nations around the world.

During the individual competition event, Erika shot against 72 other archers representing 39 countries. She dominated her field of competition in the 144-arrow qualification round and won it by a 10-point margin with a new U.S. national record score of 1,408 points.

This marked the first time in the nearly 100-year history of the world championship tournament that any archer (male or female) had ever broken the 1,400-point barrier in the 144-arrow round. The qualification round consists of 36 arrows being shot at each of four target distances (70, 60, 50, and 30 meters). Also, during the 144-arrow round, Erika established new U.S. national records at each of the 60- and 50-meter distances with scores of 354 and 351 points, respectively. In addition, the combined qualification round scores for the U.S. women's compound bow team members resulted in the establishment of a new world record of 4,157 points for a team in that event.

As a result of her recent performance at the world championships in Germany, Erika has amassed a total of nine world archery titles since 2002, including three gold, three silver, and three bronze medals. During this same period, she has also shot a total of twenty world record scores in indoor and outdoor competition.