The GSU Shooting Sports Education Center had three archers from the Eagle Creek archery team compete in the USA JOAD Target Nationals and JOAD U.S Open July 17-21. The competition was held in Albuquerque, NM at Balloon Fiesta Park.
The three archers were Lawton Elmore (13), Luke Knight (12), and Melony Blake (11). All three archers competed in the GAA State Outdoor Tournament prior to nationals, and all three of them won first place in their respective age divisions.
Lawton Elmore
Lawton competed at nationals in the Compound Open U18 age division at an impressive age of only 13 years old. He finished 19th in the USA JOAD Nationals and 10th in the JOAD U.S. Open.
He has had quite an impressive resume leading into these tournaments finishing within the top four of every other tournament he has competed in this year, including a third place finish at the USA JOAD Indoor Nationals tournament.
He finished 1st in both the GA 4-H Indoor and Outdoor Archery tournaments and second place in the S3DA State Indoor and 3-D Archery tournaments. He is the GA S3DA Youth Outdoor Target State Champion and was named the GA S3DA Shooter of the Year for the youth male open division.
Luke Knight
Luke competed in the Compound Open U13 Male age division, and he placed second in the USA JOAD Nationals tournament.
This is Luke’s first year of competitive archery shooting, and he has represented his team well with his accomplishments thus far in his shooting career. He secured a fourth place finish at the USA JOAD Indoor Nationals earlier this season, a first place finish at the GA 4-H Indoor Tournament, and a second place finish at the GA 4-H Outdoor tournament.
He is the GA S3DA state champion for indoor, outdoor, and 3-D archery and was named the GA S3DA Shooter of the Year for the Eagle Male Open division.
Melony Blake
Melony competed in the Compound Open U13 Female age division, and she secured a 3rd place podium finish in the JOAD U.S. Open tournament. She competed against archers from across the country as well as others from Taiwan.
Earlier this season, Melony competed in the GAA State Indoor and GAA JOAD State Indoor tournaments with 1st and 2nd place finishes, respectively. She also had a top ten ranking at her first ever USA Indoor Nationals competition with a ninth place finish.
While competing in the outdoor nationals tournament, Melony crushed a personal goal of earning the final JOAD Archery Achievement Pin before beginning her quest to earn advanced Olympian achievement pins. This is also Melony’s first year of competitive archery shooting, making these milestone achievements and podium finishes that much more impressive.
