As I look back at the tournament archery season, it simply wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t take a moment to acknowledge many people in my region who made their efforts worth it in big moments. Sometimes we get so lost in our own struggles or accomplishments that we don’t take time to realize what makes us better around home. What does make us better? I’ve always believed it’s the level of competition by which we are surrounded. In reading this, please do not take offense if I left you out. It’s not because I purposely did it. Instead, there were so many people who did things that impressed me, I’m sure I failed to see or remember many of them. I encourage you to sit back and enjoy reading about people from our region whom you may have overlooked along the way this year.
Although many of us didn’t attend the Lancaster Archery Classic, many others did. Some got the first-time jitters and the experience they gained will surely help them in the future. The Lancaster format can be incredibly rewarding at times, but at other times, it can take your confidence and destroy it when you shoot a great round but just can’t find the 11-ring.
Practicing with Jeff Wagoner throughout the early winter, I knew he was well prepared when he headed to the tournament and shared a room with Rob LeLacheur. Well, both Rob and Jeff laid it down at the tournament. Rob made his way into the cut in the largest class of the tournament and gave it everything he had, getting bounced by a friend and another great shooter from our region Jay Krampitz. You win some, and you lose some.
Wagoner couldn’t let Rob get all the notoriety, so he came out and performed at the same level as his practice rounds, qualifying in the number 4 spot in Senior Pro. Unfortunately, he was eliminated by one of the best to have played this game, George Ryals, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Jeff would go on to shoot some more stellar indoor rounds throughout the winter, and he found himself near the top of the leaderboard at the IBO World Championship after the first day of the event. Although he struggled a little on the second day, his strong showing the first day will carry him into next year, at which time he will decide if he wants to pursue opportunities in the ASA or stick to the IBO. Great job, Jeff. We are all proud of you and love watching your cool cucumber attitude on the line. Can’t wait to see what next year brings.
Moving into spring, I held the annual Mead Spring Challenge for my friends to get a taste of what would be in front of them in the coming months at national and regional events. I do this every spring to get everyone’s feet wet and help them realize their shortcomings and find areas to spend their time to improve.
We spread the crowd between two days due to the miserable weather on one of the days. I had the pleasure of shooting with Cole Bromley and Jake LaFontaine, as Cole was getting a look at what he would be seeing with his jump to the Semi-pro class this year. We had a good day in the misty rain, and everyone came off the course with things to work on.
Less than a month later, Jake was standing on the podium at the first leg of the IBO National Triple Crown in West Virginia. He was on the podium two times, as he captured a third-place finish in BBO for the 3D and a second-place finish for the Field. Jake would go on to struggle a little bit in the Second Leg, but he finished off the season in strong fashion, securing a top 10 finish at the third leg before going on to learn he was the first guy out of the shoot-off at the IBO World Championship. Great job this year Jake. It was nice to see you rebound after the Second Leg and get back to the top. Your experience this year in many different situations should help you grow. I look forward to following your journey to the top. Don’t ever let the finish at the World discourage you. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been the guy who was on the bubble, only to find out I was the first guy on the outside of the cut line.
Cole would leave the Mead Challenge with a few things on his mind, and he quickly got himself into a different bow that seemed to work a little better for his shooting style. He went to the first leg and had two days of solid shooting. He finished two places away from cutting a check. Cutting a check at any national event is a tough task to accomplish, and he almost did it in his first event in SPM. He had the normal growing pains the rest of the year and gained a lot of experience along the way. His investments should help him in his pursuit of consistent top finishes in the future. Great job, Cole. It’s always a pleasure to be around you. Work on getting your bow-arm shoulder down and hold the bow with your bones instead of muscles. That should help steady your sight picture up a little bit.
Jeremy Flagg, Joe Ricard and Ron Sargent also made the trip to the Mead Challenge if I remember correctly. I’m positive all three of them came last year, and I’m pretty sure they all made it this year, but I could be wrong. However, I know how they all fared this year, and their showing should make X-Spot Archery proud.
Although Jeremy decided to take a step back and not attend any national events this year, Joe and Ron chased the elusive success on the tournament trail – and found it. With Jeremy sticking close to home, I believe he was able to secure the IBO Northeast Triple Crown Champion title in Semi-pro. Great job, Jeremy. I guess that made your decision to move into a different class this year worth it. If you ever put the time into competitive archery that you do into fishing, you would be a world-class shooter.
Joe and Ron both decided to move into MBO this year to test their skills against some of the best archers in the country. Deciding to concentrate their efforts on IBO tournaments, they also found themselves in the top peer group for the final leg of the IBO Northeast Triple Crown. Although they came up a little short in that one, the experience they gained should serve them well in the future.
Joe was a model of consistency this year, as he hovered around that even mark most of the summer, and it made him realize that the difference in winning and losing usually comes down to one or two shots in every tournament. He secured a top 10 finish at the second leg of the IBO National Triple Crown, which, combined with his score from the first leg, allowed him to get a letter in the mail telling him he had made peer groups for the final leg. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to attend due to family obligations. Joe is a family guy first and foremost, and we should all follow his lead. Joe also cashed his first check from a national event this summer. Way to go, Joe! Your decision to move up a class proved to be the correct decision.
I’ve often noticed over the years that having good shooting partners and traveling partners is essential. The people with whom we surround ourselves will ultimately determine our successes and our failures. Misery loves company. If you hang out with negative people and focus on the negative, you will see negative results. If you hang out with positive people, you only focus on the positive even in the worst of times. Positivity will lead to positive results. Let the bad go and give it no attention and focus on the positive.
Ron Sargent travels with Joe most of the time, and Ron proved that he made the right decision too. Ron’s year began at the base camp with many other people at the base of Mt. Everest. He struggled a little bit in the early going, but he gained momentum as he picked his way toward the top of the mountain. Then, he achieved what we all seek: a podium finish at a national event. At the third leg of the IBO National Triple Crown in Ohio, he tried his hand at the field event and found himself in second place after the dust settled. He beat some stout shooters in the process.
Ron didn’t stop there, either. He built upon that success and shot his highest score of the year for a national event at the IBO World Championship, missing the cut by a few shots. Great job, Ron. It was fun to watch you climb the mountain this year.
Massachusetts has always produced great 3D shooters, and Chris Hartley proved that to be true, too. Hartley decided to travel to the IBO National Triple Crown with Jake and Cole this year, and his decision proved to be a good one. In the three legs, he never finished out of the top 15 in BBO, and he gave himself a chance to podium at every event. Consistency is the key in this game, and Chris proved he can play at the highest level. He ended up finishing in 5th place overall in the National Triple Crown and missed podiuming by two points… one shot over the course of three events. That’s impressive. Although the World Championship didn’t pan out the way he had planned, he learned a few valuable things on his ride home with Barry Gates, and I expect he will work on those things and come back even stronger next year. Unlike many people, he has found the secret to success and never knew what he was missing in the past. Once he unlocks this secret, he will be one to reckon with next year. Great job, Chris. I’m always happy to help people who are willing to listen and learn, and Chris is that guy. We also can’t forget Barry. Barry had his best performance ever at the Worlds this year, and I expect Barry to improve next year. He has been accumulating a lot of tools for his tool belt, and he finally learned that you must pay attention to the small tools to succeed. If you’re a carpenter, you need to learn how to use a hammer before you jump to a nail gun. Barry has all the right tools now.
It wouldn’t be fair to leave out the man from Massachusetts who puts a smile on everyone’s face. This guy found a way to crawl out of the depths of hell and find his way to a better life a few years back. After dangling from the edge of a cliff for a long time, his strength kept him from falling. Eventually, his fingertips began to sting and burn, but he pulled himself to the summit and found a new life in archery. Finding his way to the light, he put his fingertips on the edge of the cliff and muscled his way to the summit – the Pro Hunter class, the Mount Everest for pin shooters.
He struggled his way through the early part of the season before finding his way in the last two events. Rob would go into the shootdown round in first place at the Third Leg, where he encountered something he had never encountered in the past: debilitating nerves. Nerves finally got to the man who never gets nervous. I guess this goes to show people that everyone gets nervous. After a train-wreck in the shootdown, Rob new he would have to work on this area before next year.
After getting a taste at the highest level a pin shooter can shoot at, he wanted more to eat. That’s when he buckled his chinstrap and headed to the IBO World, where he would find his way into the shootdown once again. He came out where he went in and will use the experience to help him next year. Rob shot in five national events this year between 3Ds and dot shooting, and he found himself in the shootdown three times… 60% of the time. There aren’t many shooters out there who can claim that kind of success at the national level. Rob also never finished out of the top 10 in the 3D season at national events. He even got a new nickname, Boston Rob, from Darrin Christenberry, as he went out of his way to help Erin McGladdery with a car problem at the third leg. I look forward to what’s in Boston Rob’s future. The last few years have been eye-opening while watching from afar. I even thought my eyeballs were going to pop out of my head a few times with what I saw, but he still finds a way to get it done. He works while others hunt, and he’s in the shop while others sleep. Now, stop hammering that thing like the button they hammer on the “Family Feud” game show and get it done… slow and easy. Robbie is also the only guy I know who wouldn't let the 75-year-old leader of the pack win in the Bowhunter Defense Shootoff... he even talked shit to him. See below.
When I got into competitive archery, there was one guy whom I always chased. That guy was Wade Chandler. He had a lot of experience, and he was in the hunt at every big shoot. I wanted to be like him.
As years passed, Wade became my traveling partner, and we experienced many highs and lows together before he had to center his attention on raising his kids. During the last few years, Wade decided to get back into archery, and has made his way back to the leaderboard. Wade never gets the attention most others get, but he has been at the top for almost 40 years. That’s pretty impressive.
At the beginning of this year, Wade was talked into shooting on a team in MSR. I tried convincing him to shoot in MCBH, which is a class for people who are 60 and up. However, he decided to be a good person and shoot on the MSR team, even though he’s 60.
He shot well at the First Leg of the National Triple Crown and would’ve been in the top three if he had signed up in MCBH. Then, the shit hit the fan when the person who convinced him to shoot on the team decided he wasn’t going to anymore shoots. This allowed Wade to enter the other class for the rest of the year, and he earned two podium finishes in the next two legs. If he had been in the class the entire year, he would have found himself on the podium for the overall. I guess he’s still got game. Wade, it has been a pleasure to watch you for the last 30 years, and it was even sweeter to see you get back to the top. Great job this year. It was impressive to watch.
It has always been a pleasure to watch Sara Kay, but I’ve never seen her perform the way she performed this year. Since I wrote the article about her Triple Crown win, there’s not much more I can say… except that she put the icing on the cake when she went out and won the IBO World Championship a month later. She won the tournament the same way she won the Triple Crown: in a one-arrow shoot-off. Sara’s game went next-level this year about halfway into the season. Her confidence increased, and she began to believe in her ability. When an archer believes in his/her ability, great things can happen. Sara, you’re an inspiration to all of us, and I’m glad you found success this year after seeing how the year started. Great job!!
Tyler Thygesen never ceases to amaze me. Some great shooters from Vermont have found success at the national level, and Tyler seems to be the guy who is finding his way around the ranges quite well the last few years.
When Tyler jumped into the Semi-pro class this year, he experienced a few growing pains, but he used each event as a lesson. The growing he went through led him to the IBO World Championship, where he laid it down. He made his way through the first two days and found himself in the shoot-off. Nerves jumped on his back during the first few targets of the final round, but he found a way to navigate them and finished on the podium with a 3rd place finish. He put in a lot of hard work this year and earned a place at the top with all the other phenomenal Semi-pro shooters who have come out of New England. Our region has always done well in that class, and it speaks volumes about the competition we all face when shooting at home. Great job, Tyler. It was a pleasure to watch you and root for you. Tribal Archery did well when they decided to let you represent them. A shop could never ask for a better guy.
Tyler wasn’t he only Vermonter who found success at the IBO World. The Steves family traveled to the IBO World, and Sarah brought her practice rounds to the event. She stayed strong from start to finish and qualified to shoot in the final round. She picked her way through the targets and came up just two points shy of a podium finish, cutting her first check at a national event. Sarah did a great job when she was put in an unfamiliar position. She put her head down, shot her bow and concentrated on the process. Great job this year, Sarah. We hope to follow your continued success.
Shane Blackmer was yet another Vermonter who saw some success at the national level. He thought he would try the IBO nationals this year, and he progressed throughout the year. He wanted to get a taste for unmarked yardage and see what he could do. Well, he did quite well. When he got to the Third Leg, he was coming into full stride. He left Ohio with an 8th place finish, only one point from a top five. He also cut his first national check at the event. Great job this season, Shane. The sky is the limit for you if you can find the time to put into doing your thing.
The Thompsons were excited when the IBO announced the new husband and wife team category this year. They figured they would have a good shot, so they asked, “Where do we sign up? We are ready!” … and ready they were. They stayed strong and steady throughout the season and showed up to the dance. When all the dancers were judged, they climbed into first place at the final event and won the Triple Crown as a team. While personal accomplishments are great, there’s something about winning team events that stands out. It means both partners had to pull their weight and get it done. When one isn’t doing the best, the other must carry that person. Good teammates are hard to find, and great teammates are even harder to find. Angee had two top 5 finishes in the three legs, and Jon had one top 5. That means there were a lot of good drives back to New Hampshire. It’s always fun to talk about our success on the way home. Great job, you two. Nobody can ever take away the fact that you guys made history, winning the inaugural husband and wife team event.
The Thompsons weren’t the only residents of New Hampshire who impressed me. I’ve watched Walter Muzzey work harder than most the last few years. Unfortunately, Wally doesn’t get the opportunity that many of us get. Instead, he must try to make good on one national appearance a year: the IBO World. This is always a difficult task. Everything must go right for one weekend, and you simply don’t have a lot of experience to draw from. Experience will help anyone, and the more of it you get, the better off you will be. Eventually, you can understand certain situations you encounter and find ways to navigate. Anyhow, Wally finished in 7th place at the IBO World. This is his best finish so far, and he barely missed the cut. Great job, Wally. It was good to see your work coming out on the biggest stage. Keep pushing and you will surely get to where you want to go. Just remember… no expectations… just shoot your bow.
In all my years of shooting, the Maineiacs have never disappointed. It seems like every shooter who comes from Maine is always at the top of the pack of whatever class they shoot. This speaks volumes about passing down the tradition. Maine probably doesn’t have as many shooters as all the other New England states, but the shooters who go to nationals are some of the best ones in the country.
This year proved no different. John Libby and John “Easy Rider” Freeman both made the cut at the IBO Worlds in MCBH, with Libby finishing in third and Freeman finishing in fifth. That’s a tough task to beat. Many shooters in that class are former open pro and senior pro shooters. Freeman started off the year with an appearance on the stage at the Lancaster Archery Classic and finished it with an appearance in the final shoot-down round of the IBO World. Congratulations. It’s always fun to watch you guys shoot.
John "Easy Rider" Freeman
The young guys from Maine respect their elders, but they wanted to show everyone the youngsters from the north country have some game too. The Rienhardt boys both came home as World Champions. Willis beat all the other shooters in his age group, and Payson bested all the shooters in BBO, an adult class that houses some phenomenal shooters. This will not be the last time you see the boys do something special with bows in their hands. They both have the ability to go a long way in competitive archery if that’s what they choose to do when they get older. Only time will tell where their interests lie as they get older, but I hope I’m sitting back and cheering them like I’ve cheered on so many other Maineiacs. Great job, guys. It’s always a pleasure to hear people talk about you. Your parents have done and amazing job with you.
Going back to the Mead Spring Challenge, a group of shooters from Bullseye Jim’s archery shop in East Greenbush came up to shoot, too. Although Tyler Salisbury didn’t make it, Jimmy Gagnon and Kendal Gibbons came up to try their hand at it.
All these guys travel together, and all of them had at least one shoot in which they finished in the top 2. That’s impressive since they all come out of the same shop. Tyler won the third leg. Kendal had a second and a third in two of the three legs, and he made the cut at the World. He also won the National Triple Crown in the Hunter Class, never shooting under a 400 the entire year at a national. Even ol’ Jimmy Joe brought his game to the third leg, finishing in second place. Congratulations to all of you for a fantastic run this year. I look forward to watching you guys do it again next year, and I wish Kendal luck in whatever new class he enters. As I’ve told everyone over the years, if you can win in one class, you can win in any class.
Last but not least, is Jacob Slusarz. I’m sure many of you found yourselves cheering him on when you were watching the live Illinois ASA shootdown. He was clearly an underdog, but within a few weeks, he was suddenly recognized by many as the new sheriff in town. We watched him take down two of the best who have ever played the 3D game, and he beat them at their best. The 3D season is a blur, and it’s easy to get lost in everything that happens from the beginning of the season until the end, but I got a front row seat to a lot of it. Jacob made the shootdown in three of the four IBO events and won the third one in convincing fashion. He attended three ASAs and won the one in the middle. He learned a lot at the Classic, and I expect you will see that he will take that experience and better himself next year. Although he made all those 3D shootdowns, he also made the shoot-off at Vegas and the NFAA Indoor Nationals. If you take a step back and look at that year, it’s beyond amazing. Sometimes I think people in our region might take his talent for granted. It’s not often that you can participate in the same tournaments as a professional shooter like this in any region. We should all feel fortunate for what we get to witness week in and week out, whether it’s at a local shoot, a practice round somewhere, or at a team shoot. You’re witnessing world-class talent. I would encourage all of you to soak it in and enjoy the experience. A shooter like this represents our region and puts it on the map. Congratulations, Jacob, on one hell of a year. We look forward to watching you in the future and cheering you on.
I’m sure I left a bunch of people out, but those are the ones who came to mind first because I spend the most time around those individuals. Spending a lot of time with many of you, it’s easy to remember what you’re doing. I’m proud of all of you and the decision you all made to chase your dreams at national events. There’s nothing quite like the experience you gain. I wish all of you continued success.
I’ll be doing my yearly wrap-up in the next few weeks after I finalize a few things I’ve been working on. Good luck in the woods and on the range.
