USA National Field Archery Championships

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EAGLE LAKE, Texas - Blaschke Exotic Deer Ranch was a fitting venue for the opening of the U.S. National Field Championships, boasting several of the country's best archers, competing across recurve, barebow and compound categories.

Today's 24 targets were placed at unmarked distances, demanding that successful archers not only make quality shots despite difficult angles on the hilly range, but also correctly judge the distance from the shooting stake to their target.

The barebow categories featured strong talent, including several archers who have been part of World Archery Field Championships teams in the past. Highlights included Rebecca Nelson-Harris' finish in the senior women's group with a 299, while Ben Rogers shot a strong 332 to lead the male senior barebow category. Archers to watch as the competition heats up include Charlene Trafford and Alan Eagleton.

For the recurves, Jake Kaminski shot a very strong 377 to lead a group that boasted three other Olympians - Brady Ellison, Vic Wunderle and John Magera - as well as several other accomplished archers. Heather Koehl hit a score of 339 on the senior women's recurve side, leading a category that includes Olympian Jennifer Hardy and Chelsea Obrebski.

The compound women's group consists of just two archers, but they're two powerhouse shooters: Jamie Van Natta, leading with a 392, and Paige Pearce, shooting a 366 for the first day. On the men's side, competition is closest between leader Jesse Broadwater with his score of 419, and Tim Gillingham, in second with 415; Rod Menzer rounds out the top three with a 408.

Several younger archers got to experience the sheer fun and challenge of field archery today, and the youth categories boasted a wealth of talent, including category leaders Maxwell Hartman, Brooke Vandenbergh, Josef Fischer, Kathryn Fischer, Ryland Hartman, Monica Nevarez, Jeramy Minor, Jake Overbeck, William Witt, Alex Wu, Coltin Lopez, Miriam Trafford, Allison Magera, Hardy Trafford, Allison Williams, Hunter Barthels and Ben Chu.





There's also a strong masters contingent in Texas, with Skip Trafford leading a strong "Trafford Team" with his own category-leading score of 274 in the male masters' barebow group; Donny Hughes is currently topping the male masters' compound category with a 344. David Wearne is the leader in the male masters' recurve group.

Pictures here.

Results here.

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Champions Crowned at US National Field Championships



EAGLE LAKE, Texas – After two days of challenging field archery shots at Blaschke Exotic Deer Ranch, USA Archery has crowned its National Field Champions, and the winners in the barebow, recurve and compound categories should come as no surprise to archery fans.

Following yesterday’s unmarked distances, competitors shot 24 targets at marked yardages today. While marked yardage shooting removed a bit of the guesswork, it still required archers to manage some dramatic angles on today’s course, with challenging uphill and downhill shots being the standard on field archery courses.

Rebecca Nelson-Harris and Ben Rogers both clinched the championship titles in the barebow senior women’s and senior men’s categories, respectively, with Nelson-Harris hitting a 584 and Rogers posting a solid 641 for the win.

In the recurve senior men’s and women’s groups, Olympic medalist Brady Ellison climbed atop the podium, joined by U.S. Olympic Team Alternate Heather Koehl; Ellison shot a strong 734 to lead a pack that included three other Olympians and other veteran competitors. Koehl took her win with a 21-point margin over the other women in her category.

Jesse Broadwater, coming off a top three finish at the World Archery Championships – U.S. Team Trials, delivered another winning performance in the compound senior men’s group today, staying atop a tough field to finish with an 835. Jamie Van Natta shot a solid 787 to win the compound senior women’s title, leading her group by a margin of 57 points.

Youth champions included Maxwell Hartman, Brooke Vandenbergh, Josef Fischer, Kathryn Fischer, Ryland Hartman, Monica Nevarez, Jeramy Minor, Miriam Trafford, Jake Overbeck, William Witt, Allison Magera, Hardy Trafford, Coltin Lopez, Emily Fischer, Justin Dixon and Benjamin Chu.

In the masters categories, experienced archers dominated, with favorites Skip Trafford, Donny Hughes and David Wearne winning the championship titles in the male barebow, compound and recurve masters’ categories respectively. Trafford earned his hardware with a 505, while Hughes put up a 666 and Wearne a 580 to clinch their medals.

Complete results can be found by clicking here; photos by Ron Carmichael and Michael Hojnacki can be seen on USA Archery’s Facebook page.