2008 U.S. Olympic Archery Team Trials First Nomination Shoot

Joe Fanchin, USC

On the weekend of 29 September, 2007 in Conyers, Georgia, more than 200 athletes from around the United States gathered to participate in the first of three tournaments to select the US Olympic Archery Team to compete in Beijing, China in August 2008. Each of these tournaments is referred to as a Nomination Shoot. The purpose of the first Nomination Shoot was to cut the field to 16 men and 16 women. The archers who make the cut at this first event are referred to as the Shadow Team. The second Nomination Shoot will be held in Chula Vista, Ca. in April 2008 where the field will be cut to eight. The third and final Nomination Shoot will be held in May 2008 where the U.S. Olympic Archery Team consisting of three men and three women will be selected.

On the first day of the Nomination Shoot all competitors shot a qualifying round that consisted of four 70 meter 36 arrow rounds. At the end of the day four college archery athletes made the cut to the top 16 and are members of the Shadow Team.

Joe Fanchin, University of Southern California
Kendra Harvey, Central New Mexico Community College
Erin Mickelberry, University of Washington
Dakota Sinclair, Arizona State University

In the men’s division qualifying event, Dakota finished in 2nd place and Joe in 10th. In the women’s division, Erin qualified 11th, and Kendra 14th.

For the next two days the athletes participated in a series of round-robin matches. Points were awarded for scores as well as win/losses and were totaled with the qualifying round results to give each athlete their final standing.

Final placements in the 1st selection shoot for the college athletes: Dakota Sinclair 7th, Joe Fanchin 14th, Erin Mickelberry 11th, and Kendra Harvey 13th. See the U.S. Archery website for the detailed results.

The 2nd nomination shoot will be held in Chula Vista, CA the first week of April.

Congratulations to all of our college athletes and Good Luck at the next Nomination Shoot!