The USA Indoor Nationals and NFAA Indoor Nationals took place over the weekend in Cincinnati, Ohio, and resulted in a dominating performance by Elite Archery pro staff members and six podium finishes.
The culmination of a 13-state USA Archery qualifier resulted in Chance Beaubouef and Kris Schaff shooting against six other archers in the USA Archery Indoor Nationals Final on Friday. Besting their opponents, Beaubouef and Schaff competed into the final four of bracket rounds, with Schaff taking third, and Beaubouef winning the competition.
Photo via USA Archery
Schaff, coming off a successful weekend in Yankton at the World Archery Indoor Finals, only missed one shot on Saturday during the NFAA Indoor Nationals round, but shot a perfect round on Sunday to round out the weekend.
“Taking third with shooting three of the best head-to-head matches I’ve ever had, was a bittersweet win,” Schaff said. “Missing one on the 5th end during the first day of NFAA Indoor Nationals wasn’t what I had planned, but coming back Sunday I kept my composure and shot a 60x for a total of 600 119x. My equipment has performed better than I have ever imagined this indoor season, and now I’m ready to take the Echelon outdoors.”
Photo via USA Archery
Seeded 7th in the 8-man lineup, Beaubouef competed through the brackets into the gold medal match, and bested Jesse Broadwater for the championship win.
“This weekend in Cincinnati was definitely a rewarding one. Starting the weekend off shooting the USA Indoor Nationals and making it to the Gold Medal match was hitting the first goal for the weekend. To start the weekend off a national champion took some pressure off heading into the first day of scoring,” Beaubouef said. “I don’t think I could have shot my bow much better this weekend. I kept my nerves under control and executed to the best of my ability. The confidence I have in my equipment plays a huge part in the confidence I have when I compete. This year is kicking off to be a pretty good one and to get the first win of the season just drives me to work harder for the next one.”
Moving into the NFAA Indoor National rounds on Saturday, defending Vegas champions Keith Trail and Alexis Ruiz set their sights high for the weekend. Ruiz, in her first ever NFAA Indoor Nationals tournament, was one of two competitors to shoot clean on Saturday. After dropping an X on Sunday, Ruiz finished third in the Professional Female Class.
“I was very happy with how I shot, especially as this was my first 60x in a tournament,” Ruiz said. “My shots were feeling great, and everything was performing flawlessly. I am excited that outdoor season is beginning, and I am happy that I ended the indoor season on this note.”
Shooting clean on Saturday, Trail didn’t make it easy for the competition to catch up. Overall, Trail dropped just one X for the weekend, and outright won the Professional Senior Male class.
Shortly after watching his father, Dee Wilde, win the Silver Senior Professional class, Reo Wilde, along with Chance Beaubouef, Glen Bordwell and Jacob Marlow joined their class of 25 to shoot down in the Professional Male division. After competing through ends, Bordwell and Beaubouef were eliminated together in the fifth round, leaving Marlow and Wilde together on the line amongst others. Wilde’s last arrow in the sixth end just edged the line and resulted in a fourth place overall finish in the competition, which left Marlow on the line shooting against Richard Bowen and Sergio Pagni. Ultimately, Marlow shot clean through the last two rounds to earn the championship title.
“Indoor Nationals went great for me, and my Echelon definitely saved some points on a few not so great shots to shoot a 600 120x to make it to the shootoff,” Marlow said. “After shooting one end of regular scoring and four ends of inside out, I was able to win. The forgiveness I find in the bow is a lifesaver.”
“To say Elite and The Outdoor Group had a successful weekend would be a massive understatement. Taking home the wins in the Men’s Pro Freestyle in BOTH, the USA & NFAA Indoor Nationals is a testament to the talent on our team,” said Darrin Christenberry, Elite Archery pro staff manager. “Chance Beaubouef is no stranger to winning tournaments and it was good to see him back on top in the USA Archery portion of the weekend and seeing Jacob Marlow win the biggest shoot off in NFAA history was truly awesome! Keith Trail followed up his Vegas win with a 1st place finish and Alexis Ruiz continued her podium streak, finishing third in the Women’s Pro division. I couldn’t be happier with EVERYONE’S support & success.”
