Six Arizona Juniors selected to the US Jr. World Archery Championship Team

June 4th - 6th, 2004

Salt Lake City, Utah

Photos           Results

NAA Press Release

Eight Arizona Junior Olympic Archery Development youth archers (JOADs) traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah for the US Junior World Team Trials.

The event was also a Jr. US Archery Team qualifier. 

After a weekend of intense competition, several Arizona JOAD won positions on the 32 member US team as well as Jr USAT ranking.  Six Arizona members on one USA Jr World Team was unprecedented. 

The Arizonans will join other JOADs from around the country and represent the USA at the 8th Junior World Outdoor Target Championships.  The Championship will be held later this summer in Great Britain.

Archers that competed and their results:

• Maggie Huff, Tucson, US Jr World Team member

• Ryan Davis, Tucson, US Jr World Team member

• Lindsay Pian, Scottsdale, US Jr World Team member

• Robyn Repp, Scottsdale, US Jr World Team member

• Margaret Hargett, Payson, US Jr World Team member

• Brady Ellison, Glendale, US Jr World Team member

• Aprilyn Witt, Waddell, Jr USAT ranking

• Brandon Hunt, Phoenix, Jr USAT ranking

These Arizona JOADs have been competing in target archery for several years and some took part in a five month Arizona training program that included classes, tournaments and team training.  A highlight of the program was a series of talks from former Arizona Jr. World Team members that discussed what to expect and how to succeed in national and world competition.

This summer is a busy one.  The Junior World Archery Team Championship is one of several important national JOAD competitions.  The US Olympic Trials will take place in June in Ohio to fill the US team for the 2004 Summer Olympics in August.  The US JOAD Nationals Championship Tournament will be held in July in Georgia.  The National Target Championship Tournament will be held in July in Pennsylvania.

The JOAD program is the youth component of the National Archery Association and is sanctioned by the United States Olympic Committee to develop Olympic athletes.  More information about Olympic archery in Arizona is available at www.azjoad.com, www.azarchery.com and www.usarchery.org.

Tournament Summary:

Practice day:

The field was set up Friday morning at the beautiful Deseret Peak Recreation Complex in Tooele county.  By 2:00 PM Official practice began with winds from the north to south at 10 mph.  The temperatures each day began in the seventies in the morning and peaked in the low 90s by days end.  New this year was the Cadet Olympic round distance and longest female Cadet distance of 60 meters.  The practice session went on until 7:00 PM.  The tournament organizers arranged for pre-purchase of $5 next day sack lunches. 

A free “Pizza” party took place at the host hotel Holiday Inn.  Olympian, Ed Ellison; Elite Coach Mike Girard and Easton’s Jeff McNail spoke and engaged the crowd in archery discussions.

FITA day:

The one day FITA began at 8:00 AM with scoring starting at 9:00 AM.  Over one hundred of the nations elite Cadet and Junior division archers competed in male, female, Olympic bow and Compound bow categories, 8 divisions total.  Tension was high as only the top 8 archers in each division would move on to Sunday's competition.  The two long distances were shot in the morning under a strong variable tail wind.  The 200 pre-purchased sack lunches allowed most to stay on the field and socialize.  The short distances were shot in the PM, this time with a typical shifting gusty head wind.

That evening, EASTON hosted a fantastic BBQ with all the trimmings.  Denise Parker spoke about the ability to have a life with archery and took questions.

Olympic round and Round robin day:

The trimmed field of 64 JOADs resulted in very close competitions.  The day also accounted for 3/4 of the tournament ranking.  A head wind shifted and gusted thru out the day.  The Olympic rounds took place in the AM.  The single elimination nature of the Olympic round made for intense focus on the shooting line.  The simultaneous medal rounds were timed on the clock by the DOS with alternating arrows with the 8 bronze medal matches shot together followed by the 8 gold medal matches.

The Round robins matches consist of head to head competition with each archer in the division.  The Round matches also accounted for 1/2 of the tournament ranking and took place in the PM.  Tensions were at the top of the scale.  Match wins as well as the average round robin score ranked competitors.

At days end, the top four in each division won positions on the thirty-two member 2004 US Junior World Team.  Trophies were awarded and a team photo taken. EASTON announce that they are donating $150 to each of the twenty eight unfunded team members!  All six Arizona JOADs are unfunded.  Arizona has the largest number of archers from one state.  Eighteen states are represented on the team.

The tournament was hosted by the Utah Hot Shots (Randi and Larry Smith) Easton/Hoyt and the NAA.  Officials were Lenny Schwade (DOS) and Jane Johnson acted as Chairman of Judges.  A team of local judges took on the bulk of the judging duties.  The officials did a great job of moving the tournament along smoothly.  A couple of judges including Bob Pian pitched in to help judge during the ORs, which helped keep things moving.

Also…the Salt Lake City Airport Holiday Inn  was the host hotel and provide a light sack breakfast to all the archer guests every morning, as part of the room rate.  The hotel also hosted the team meeting where the NAA announced the coaches and the archers and families filled out a host of forms. 

Hoyt and Easton arranged for tours of their facilities where you could see a bow handle go from a block of aluminum to a finished product and aluminum arrows from aluminum coils to finished product including the arrow anodizing process.

Also note worthy is the announcement of Arizona’s Mark Penaz and Alexander Kirillov as team coaches.