Community roundup: Olympic archer hits mark in Darrington
Published 1:30 am Monday, June 5, 2017
Three-time Olympian Brady Ellison was among the archers who took home titles during the 2017 U.S. National Field Championships held this weekend in Darrington.
Field archery is a type of archery that takes place on a wooded outdoor course. The competitors walk from target to target, which are at differing distances. The championships took Saturday and Sunday at the Darrington Archers range, with competitors shooting at 24 targets each day.
Ellison, from Globe, Arizona, is the two-time defending world champion in men’s recurve. He posed a score of 763 to easily outpace the field in his discipline.
Also winning his discipline was Dave Cousins, an eight-time medalist at the world championships in men’s compound. Cousins, from Standish, Maine, scored 830 to edge Steve Anderson, who was just three points behind.
The other men’s winner was John Demmer III (Kingsley, Pennsylvania), who lapped the field by scoring 678 in barebow.
On the women’s side there was an upset in compound. Heather Gore of Grass Valley, California, scored 781 to beat defending world champion Jamie Van Natta by eight points.
The other women’s winners were Heather Koehl (Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin) in recurve with a score of 638, and Jennifer Stoner (Lorton, Virginia) in barebow with a score of 562.
“The course today was a lot more interesting, we had a lot more hills, which is always a lot of fun,” Demmer told the USA Archery website. “It was not easy, but it was a lot more fun.”
For recurve and barebow archers the championships served as the trials for the 2017 World Games, which take place July 20-30 in Wroclaw, Poland. Ellison, Demmer and Vic Wunderle (who placed second in recurve) were named to the men’s team. Koehl and Stoner were named to the women’s team.
Kamiak grad joins USA Beach Handball team
Bill Johnson, a 2005 graduate of Kamiak High School, will be playing with the USA Beach Handball men’s team at the Beach Games Seynois on June 17-18 in La Seyne-sur-Mer, France.
Johnson, who lives in Zorge Ritoma, Tibet, is using the trip to raise funds for a 9-year-old girl from his village named Lhamo, who is suffering from spinal muscular atrophy. More information can be found at https://www.youcaring.com/lhamoherfamily-835137.
If you have an idea for a community sports story, e-mail Nick Patterson at npatterson@heraldnet.com.
