Gracious winner in rare shootoff
By By Jeff Byrd / staff writer
June 23, 2003
A rare scoring tie in men's field open archery led to a one arrow shootoff in the final event of the State Games of Mississippi's Archery competition Sunday afternoon at Bonita Lakes.
Joe Grace won the shootoff to win the gold medal in the mens open field. Gary Redditt took the silver. Both men had finished with identical scores of 866 with both hitting 25 bullseyes. The bronze went to Brian Grace.
The shootoff closed out a successful two-day tournament for archery. Event commissioner Wade Smith said the event was one of the best for the State Games.
The performance of the tournament may have been in the three-dimensional Senior Mens pro division. Seminary archer John Haas shot a 243 to win the gold medal in the division. A perfect score on the wooded, hilly course which consists of shooting plastic cutouts of animal-like targets is 250.
Ellisville archer Mike Sanford was amazed by Haas' score.
Jerry Allen was second in the 3D Senior Open with a 231 and Steve Geddie had a 224 with a bronze.
The Mens 3D Open was another close call in a field of 10 archers. Brian Stokes won the gold with a score of 215. Redditt was again second with the silver at 213 and Joe Grace won the bronze with a 212.
Grace won his second gold medal of the day in the 3D mens pro with a score of 232. Brian Stokes took the silver with a 225 and Matt Stokes earned the bronze at 215.
In the senior mens bow hunter division, Malcolm Pearson won the gold, Tony Creel the silver and Glynn Beasley the bronze.
The senior mens field open division gold was won by Larry Bass with a score of 871 which included 26 aces. Jerry Allen took the silver and John Haas took the bronze with a 853.
The 3D mens bowhunters division was won by Dan McFarland with a score of 216. Bill Ready shot a 209 for the silver and Richard Touchstone took the bronze with a 179.
Jimmy Blackledge won the 3D mens bow hunter release division with a 191 score. Charles Bourland had a 162 for the silver.
A full slate of boys youths competed as well.
The youth aided field shoot had seven competitors and was won by Richard Goldman's score of 849 which included 18 aces. William Trent Smith and Steven Whatley tied for second but Smith was awarded the silver.
In the 3D boys youth aided division, Howard Wesley won the gold in a 10-archer field. Wesley scored a 192 for the gold. Benjamin McDonald shot a 177 for the silver and Timothy Ross Chatham had a 175 for the bronze.
In the 3D boys cubs division, Aubrey Pogue won the gold with a 214 score. Jamie Haddox took the silver and Alex Singley had the bronze.
The youth girls had Shannon Creel win the youth unaided 3D. Haleigh Moffett won the 3D girls braves division gold while Kelsey Creel took the silver. Kim Gaddis won the girls cubs recurve gold and Bayleigh Creel won the 3D girls cubs division.
Faye Stokes won three golds in the women's competition. Stokes won the women's open field with a 785 score. She won the 3D women's open division with a 188 and the women's pro division with a 192.
Monique Rains won the silver in the open field and the 3D open division while Beverly Carter was third in the 3D women's open.
Other women's winners included Beverly Carter in the 3D women's bow hunter; Melanie Gaddis and women's recurve unaided.
Other results had Chris Stennett winning the mens bow hunter field division; Richard Touchstone won the mens bow hunter unaided field division gold; Blake Clark won the 3D mens recurve; Sammy Beech won the 3D senior mens bow hunter release; Leroy Odom won the 3D senior mens compound unaided; Jerry Sullivan won the mens 3D senior mens pro division; John Walden won the compound aided division; and Ronald Bustin won the senior mens compounded aided division.
