2013 San Diego Conference Championships RESULTS
Forty seven archers gathered at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, for our very first San Diego Conference Championships. This was our first year having the San Diego area as its own Conference, separate from Los Angeles. While we had veteran team John Muir HS, 2012 State Champions in the team round and boy’s divisions, many of our schools are newcomers to the archery scene.
2013 San Diego Conference Championships RESULTS
For most of the archers this was their first time competing in a tournament. Some of them event felt a little intimidated being at the Olympic Training Center as several of the Resident Athlete archers could be seen practicing further down the field at 70 meters. “They’re sooooo good,” exclaimed one of our archers. They soon felt like they belonged though, once the competition started and arrows were flying. Our archers knew that this is where athletes were training for the next Olympics and could sense the level of passion and dedication that this center embodied. Many stepped up their game and displayed the same determination, fueled by their love of archery and their surroundings.
Many were impressed to be shooting at such a beautiful, and large archery range. We were very fortunate to have the Roadrunner Archery Club as our hosts. The RAC club meets at the training center and is open to the public. Many of the club coaches are also Resident Athletes. For more information please visit their website at http://www.roadrunnerarchery.com/.
The competition started off in the morning with a 36 arrow ranking round. Though it was their first year forming a middle school team, John Muir performed well, taking three of the top four spots in the boys division, Jesus Ibarra taking first with a 330, Anthony Mazzeo taking 2nd with 328, and Emilio Radafshar taking 4th with a 314. Magnolia Science Academy’s Troy Abbott captured the third spot with a 325.
On the girls side, John Muir and High Tech Middle Chula Vista would share the top four spots. Sheonne Jech-Galvin (John Muir) took top honors with a 304. Brina Hallett (HTMCV) took 2nd with a 265. Lilly French (John Muir) placed 3rd with a 231. Cami Del Rosaria (HTMCV) took 4th with a 227.
On the high school side we only had the team from John Muir. Despite only having their teammates for competition, it was good preparation for when they would go to State Championships in May to compete against the LA high schools. For the boys, 2012 State Champion Stefan George would take first with a 315. Teammate Taebien Lee took 2nd with a 268, Joshua Hoffman placed 3rd with a 263, and Anthony Barron took 4th with a 256. For the girls, Angelica Marasigan led the team with a 276. Tanya Reyes followed in 2nd with a 191 and Raven Williams finished with a 180.
Thanks to a very generous donation from Willow Creek Archery, the top 3 archers in each division received their own quiver! Willow Creek Archery is a shop up in the Escondido area. The shop also has an indoor archery range and offers classes for all ages throughout the year.
During the lunch break, archers got to watch a demo by Ariel Gibilaro, a resident athlete at the training center and one of our judges for our competition. Ariel trains full time at the OTC. In addition to shooting 300 arrows a day, the team does other activities like running, playing soccer, workouts at the gym, and more. It’s a lot of hard work to make it to the next Olympics, but it was obvious that she was enjoying every bit of it. After talking about life at the training center and her bow, Ariel then shot some balloons at 60m. All but 3 of her arrows were packed into the gold despite the gusty winds that Chula Vista is known for. The trials for the 2016 Rio De Janeiro games will begin in 2015 so be sure to keep an eye out for her then.
After lunch it was time for our Olympic Round and Team Round matches. This year both events would be happening at the same time, so archers had to choose which one they would compete in as this follows the pattern of our league matches as well. For the boys Olympic Round we saw a good match between Jordan Mora and Troy Abbott for the bronze. Jordan Mora would take the match 110 to 102. For the gold, we had a nail biter as both Jesus Ibarra and Anthony Mazzeo tied with a 114 forcing a one arrow shoot-off. Both archers scored a 9 so the judges had to see which arrow was closest to the center! By mere centimeters, Anthony Mazzeo would take the gold! On the girls side Dahlia Suiter took bronze, Razeile Mostrales took silver, and Sheonne Jech-Galvin took the gold. For the middle school team round, Barona’s team of Kendall, Miles, and Noe would take the bronze with a 195. For the gold, Magnolia Science Academy’s team (Antonio, Erik, and Michael) would edge out John Muir’s team (Cleon, Malik, and Lilly) by just 2 points, 183 to 181!
From the Olympic and Team Round matches, we selected our All-San Diego team. The top 2 boys and girls from the OR and the top two team round teams would compete in the All-School event at State Championships in May. You can read more about the All-School Showdown HERE.
We would like to thank all of the archers, coaches, and parents for coming out to the competition and for making it such a fun event. What a great way to kick-off the San Diego Conference!