Smith happy with archery event
By By Jeff Byrd / staff writer
June 17, 2002
The archery competition for the State Games of Mississippi at Bonita Lakes had many wearing big smiles. One of those belonged to event commissioner Wade Smith.
A big turnout of nearly 110 competitors really made Smith's weekend. Archers were able to compete in both 3-D bow-hunting and the traditional Olympic style event.
One archer who competed in both fields was Meridian's Matt Stokes. He shot the traditional target archery on Sunday morning before taking on the 3D targets that were positioned at different set-ups in the Bonita Lakes' woods.
One of the youngest archers in the field was eight-year-old Haleigh Moffett. Moffett won a silver medal in the Braves Girls 3D division.
In the 3D competition, archers shot arrows at 3-dimensional animal-like targets that were designed by Jay Moffett and Andy Matuszewski.
As for the competition, the medals fared this way.
In the Braves 3D Boys (8-and-under): Kevin Chappell won the gold. Joshua Smith got the silver and Tell Matuszewsi got the bronze.
In the Braves 3D Girls, Kelsey Anderson won the gold with a 234 score. Moffett was second at 228 and Madison Pierre took the bronze.
In the Cubs Boys 3D (9-13 years old), Derek Carter won the gold, Casey Hanberry took the silver and Kyle Craig had the bronze.
In boys field archery, Carter won his second gold with a 723 score. Evan Rogers was second.
In the girls 3D Cubs, Kimberly Gaddis won the gold with a score of 136 edging out Bayleigh Creel's 135.
In Youth Boys (13-17), it took a shoot-off to decide it. Ross Cheatman won the gold hitting 12 points to nip Jacob Smith's score of 10. Both archers finished their regulation shots tied at 228. Will Smithart took the bronze at 152.
In the Youth Boys Field, Richard Goldman scored a 832 to take the gold. Smithart won the silver at 682 and Steven Whatley won the bronze.
In Youth Girls 3D, Lindsey Reynolds won the gold with an 187 score. Shannon Creel took the silver.
In the women's competition, Faye Stokes won three golds. She won the pro division and the open division for 3D. She then won the women's field event.
Beverly Carter won the gold in bowhunter release, Melanie Gaddis won the gold in recurve unaided class; and Pattie Allen won in the bowhunter class. Allen also got a silver in the open class.
The men competition had the biggest field of competitors.
In 3D, golds were won by seven different archers.
In bowhunter: Jimmy Blackledge won gold with a 242 score. Dan McFarland was second and Burnell Simmons third.
In bowhunter release: Rusty Hilton won gold with a 239 score followed by Jerry Goff in second at 228 and Bill Ready in third.
In compound aided, Thomas McGee won gold. In longbow unaided, Mitchell Pierre scored a 183 to take first. Bobby Craig was second.
In open class, John Grace won the gold in a shootoff with 12 points. Ronald Bustin was second. Both men had 240 scores. Jerry Allen was one back at 239 for the bronze.
In the pro class, Joe Grace won the gold with a 244 score. Lee Martin was second at 242. Michael Sanford also had a 242 but was awarded the bronze.
In recurve unaided, Blake Clark won gold, Dennis Reed took the silver and Albert Kennedy won the bronze.
In men's field archery, Allen Stokes won the gold in the bowhunter division with 829 score. Tony Creel was second.
Thomas McGee won the compound aided class.
In the open class, Jerry Allen was a one-point better than Joe Grace. Allen had an 866 to Grace's 865. Jerry Sullivan took the bronze at 864.
In the pro class, Lee Martin got is second medal, this one was a gold after scoring 874. Jery Sullivan was second at 870 and Michael Sanford was third at 863.
In recurve unaided, Shelton Dufrene won the gold at 630. Bobby Craig was second at 315.
The Mens' Senior Class was for archers over 50. Ten events were offered.
In bowhunter, Mackie Pearson won the gold. James Tims was second followed by Glynn Beasley.
In bowhunter release, Sammy Beech won gold with John Horne taking the silver.
In long bow unaided, Bobby Mills won gold followed by Jimmy Breazeale.
In the open class, Frankie McGee won in a shootoff against John Grace. Both men shot a 246. McGee his 12 targets in the shootoff. Jerry Allen was third.
In recurve unaided, Bobby Mills got his second gold with a 196 score. Slator Hanks was second and Jimmy Breazeale was third.
In senior field archery, James Tims won the bowhunter class. Sammy Beech won bowhunter release. Mills picked up his third gold by winning the longbow. Breazeale was second.
In the open class, Jerry Allen won gold with an 853 score. Beech was second at 852 and John Grace was third.
The final class saw Wayne Stokes win the recurve unaided gold.
