New August 4, 2002

118th National Target Championship

U.S. Grand Prix

Tournament held July 27 thru Aug. 2, 2002 Canton, Michigan

The 118^th National Target Championship Tournament was held in Canton, Michigan (Detroit Area) from July 27th to August 2^nd. Four Arizona JOADs took part in the final ranking national tournament of the season. All of the AZJOADs were on the leader board, as they were for the JOAD National only a few weeks ago. Success can be habit forming.

The Target Championship features a double FITA competition held over four consecutive days. The weather conditions at the fields were hot and humid. This year, the Junior classification shot on the Senior Field while the Cadets, Cubs and Bowmans had their own field.

It was interesting to see some lesser known archery types including, Traditional bow, Barebow, Crossbow and Clout.

Reading Pennsylvania will be hosting the Target Championships for the next few years.

Bowman Class, double FITA competition.

· Annie Frangos, Female Compound. Second Place

Annie took second place over a disappointingly small field. In spite of lack of competition, Annie stayed focused all four days of the FITA tournament. She can also add a Clout 1^st place to her list of accomplishments. We all hope Annie will have more Bowmans to “play with” in the years to come.

· Mary Frangos, Female Recurve, First Place

Mary started and remained in top form, and stayed in first place on the leader board, for the entire tournament. Mary eventually lost contact with the rest of the field and shifted into another gear for the final two days of competition, besting the previous records with higher scores at longer distances and smaller targets. Mary won her classification with a 78-point cushion. Super job Mary.

Cadet Class, double FITA competition.

· Lindsay Pian, Female Recurve, Second Place

The competition was well matched in this class with a different leader on the leader board each day. Lindsay remained in first and second place on the leader board ultimately finishing second after the hard fought final day. Keep up the good work.

Junior Class, double FITA competition.

· Ted Harden II, Male Recurve, Jr. USAT, US Jr. World Team Member, Fifth Place.

Ted II used the competition to refine form for the Jr. World Competition in the Czech Republic, beginning next week. The four-day competition proved to be very beneficial. Ted ended the tournament with a tied score for fourth place. Fifth place was awarded after review of hits, tens and Xs. Ted joined with two other top juniors to form a Male Recurve team. They competed head to head with teams with All Americans and Olympians. As a team they were all hitting in the gold and won the US team competition surprising the seniors.

Acknowledgements:

The JOADs felt at home with many of their coaches and supportors competing or working the tournament. Mike and Vivian Koistinen worked from dawn to dusk as Judges. Frank Pearson, Mark Penaz and Loren Braud were competitors and offered encouragement throughout the tournament. The familiar faces of the dozen or so Arizona Archery Association Archers is always a pleasure to see.

Tournament results can be found on the National Archery Association Web site at Results.