Washington’s Bodie Turner and Hawaii’s Liko Arreola took home the compound crowns at this year’s Vegas Shoot. Neither is older than 15 years old.
Turner took home a grand prize of $50,000 after beating out 21 other perfect men and Lucky Dog Stephan Hansen in the main event open division on Sunday evening at the South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa.
“It was a really fun shoot. I’ve come every year. My third year here, first shooting pro and it’s just awesome shoot,” said Bodie.
Bodie scored 900 87X to qualify for the championship shootdown.
He was joined on the line by 22 other men: Nick Kappers, Dan McCarthy, Sergio Pagni, Gaius Carter, Bob Eyler, Justin Hannah, Alberto Blazquez, Jesse Broadwater, Jeff Raney, Steve Marsh, Kyle Douglas, Christopher Perkins, Mike Schloesser, Jacob Slusarz, Jacob Pettit, Nico Wiener, Federico Pagnoni, Jase Boils, Richard Bowen, Lonnie Jacob Marlow, Eric Jenkins and Lucky Dog Stephan Hansen.
All of them shot 30 points for the first end, scored using the big 10-ring.
When the competition moved to scoring the little X as 10, though, the field starting thinning. And after the format moved to single-arrow shooting, archers taking turns one after another, the real drama hit.
With just four remaining – McCarthy, Kappers, Pagni and Turner – two-time champion Pagni dropped an arrow on the concrete.
The miss effectively eliminated the Italian in fourth. McCarthy dropped out the same end. Two passes later, Bodie delivered a confident final 10 to oust Kappers for the title.
He finished his post-match interview with a bold statement: “I’d like to win it more in the future, it’s a first good year for me. I’m definitely happy with it.”
Bodie turned 15 yesterday.
The compound women’s champion, now back-to-back winner Liko Arreola, is just 14. She dropped experienced pros Paige Pearce and Tanja Gellenthien in just one small-10 end, finishing the largest-ever perfect shootdown in the women’s event faster than anyone expected.
“I’m feeling really, really good. I was a little nervous at the beginning, but it was really fun shooting with Paige and Tanja,” said Liko.
A year ago, when she collected her first title during pandemic restrictions, the finals took place in one of the halls at the South Point, which didn’t quite carry the atmosphere of the main arena.
“It was a little more shocking and a little bit more nervous for me because I’ve never done this before, the shoot-off and it’s really fun,” she said.
After another round of scoring, Gellenthien took second and Pearce, came third.
Bill Drake beat four-time champion Keith Trail to the compound senior championship title. The senior shooters entered the arena after they both finished tied after the three days of competition at 899.
Only one scoring end on the big 10, which saw a perfect 30-points from Drake, was required to decide the title.
“Still not set in, not even. The nerves still going,” said Drake.
“Last year we went eight ends before we decided on it, so I expected a couple, but the nerves were as much as I’ve ever experienced.”
Vegas 2022 Championship winners:
Compound open: Bodie Turner
Compound female: Liko Arreola
Compound senior: Bill Drake
Compound young adult: Dewey Hathaway
Recurve male: Brady Ellison
Recurve female: Casey Kaufhold
Recurve young adult: Christian Stoddard
Barebow: Richard Stark
Check full results on Ianseo.
Comments