Written by – Steve Yee, August 2014

Hamilton, Ohio was again the home for the 135th USA Archery Outdoor Nationals and the 2014 Easton JOAD Nationals. Over 900 archers from 44 states, Chinese Taipei, Canada, and the Philippines gathered together at Joyce Park in the largest event that USA Archery has hosted in its history.

Arizona was well represented in both the archers as well as the tournament staff. 22 archers, 4 Judges, and various coaches, family members, and tournament support staff undertook the roughly 3600 mile round trip journey from Arizona to shoot or work either the Outdoor Nationals (for adults) or the JOAD Nationals (for youth archers).

This year’s event was not only the largest in the number of archers registered, it also was the largest in physical size. If you were to include the safety area, the total square footage of land used equaled the same size of two NFL football fields – sidelines and all.

Rain, thunder, and lightning were the order of the day during most of the time spent at this year’s Nationals. The USA Archery Inclement Weather policy was used quite often, with the field being shut down a few times due to lightning striking within 8 miles of the field. During lighting strikes that occur nearby, the field will be evacuated and all archers and staff members will take cover in vehicles or nearby enclosed structures. Due to weather issues, the published schedule was also rearranged, with ranking rounds shot Thursday/Friday, Elimination Rounds on Saturday, and Team Rounds on Sunday if the weather permitted.

Long term forecasts showed heavy rains on Sunday, so the Team rounds were tentatively canceled. Even with the rain forecast, it didn’t dampen the spirits of the archers.

The opening BBQ dinner was held at the Courtyard Marriott, which was again the host hotel for Outdoor Nationals. Current USAT members also held a trading card signing for fans and autograph collectors.

USA Archery’s annual meeting was also held at the Courtyard Marriott, with the room lightly attended as CEO Denise Parker went over some key figures of USA Archery’s health, and announced the new location of the 2015 Outdoor Nationals, which will be held in Decatur, Alabama.

Ranking rounds for both youth and adults occurred on Thursday and Friday. Rain and lightning interfered intermittently during both days, with the 144 arrows concluding on Friday evening at 6pm. Saturday brought the Olympic/Elimination rounds, with some matches being televised live on USA Archery’s YouTube channel.

Unfortunately, due to some minor delays in electronic score gathering along with weather, elimination rounds had to continue on until there was literally no more light to shoot safely, which was about 9pm local time. This meant that the Compound Gold/Bronze medal matches for the Easton JOAD Nationals would have to be continued on Sunday in between breaks in the weather.

Luckily, the weather allowed the Compound Gold and Bronze medal matches to finish, with the Compound Cub Men providing the most excitement of the shortened day. Cub Compound archer Jeremy Corridori provided some of the most nail biting suspense on Sunday after losing to teammate Spencer Yee in the semi-final matches on Saturday. His subsequent one arrow shootoff against #1 ranked Matthew Weinstein (GA) for the Bronze medal resulted in a X versus 10 closest to center shootout for the win in the Bronze medal match.

Out of the 22 archers from Arizona, the following archers received a total of 20 medals for their efforts at the 135th Outdoor Nationals, 2014 US Open, or the 2014 Easton JOAD Nationals. In no particular order, the archers and their placements are as follows:

- Rebecca Bell, 2014 National Champion, Outdoor Clout Round – Recurve Junior Women
- Gary Yamaguchi, 2014 National Champion & 2014 US Open Winner – Recurve Master 50 Men
- Rick McKinney, 2014 National Champion & Bronze Medal, 2014 US Open – Recurve Master 60 Men
- Brady Ellison, 2014 National Champion & 2014 US Open Winner – Recurve Senior Men
- Eric Bennett, 2014 National Champion – Compound Standing Men
- Brian Bullis, Jr, 2014 JOAD Grand National Champion, Gold Medal (Ranking Round), Silver Medal (Olympic Round) – Recurve Cub Men
- Andrew Park, Bronze Medal (Ranking Round) – Recurve Bowmen Men
- Danielle Reynolds, Silver Medal (Ranking Round), Bronze Medal (Olympic Round), Silver Medal (Grand National Champion) – Compound Junior Women
- Alexis Ruiz, Bronze Medal (Ranking Round), Bronze Medal (Grand National Champion) – Compound Cadet Women
- Jeremy Corridori, Bronze Medal (Olympic Round) – Compound Cub Men
- Spencer Yee, Gold Medal (Olympic Round), Silver Medal (Grand National Champion) – Compound Cub Men

Congratulations to all of the archers for their achievements at the 135th Outdoor Nationals and the 2014 JOAD Nationals!

More from AZJOAD: World Archery International Judge Candidate and USA Archery Arizona President Mike Cullumber served as a tournament judge including officiated the live video feature matches. Arizonan Sheri Rhodes and World Archery International Judge Candidate served as USA Archery Tourney Director and Technical Delegate. Arizona was well represented on the judging side as well with Steve Yee, Terry LaBeau and Diana LaBeau all serving as judges for the tournament.

Thank you Steve Yee and the Yee Family of Desert Sky Archers and Corner Kidz JOAD for this Arizona 2014 NTC and EJN tourney summary.