JOAD Championships 2019
- emmybreitkopf
- Jul 28, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 30, 2019
Day 1 (Arrival)
It was another early morning start at the airport for the athletes, and with the largest team yet (totalling fourteen archers and three staff members!), it was a very long process going through the airport. The plane ride itself was smooth sailing with an afternoon arrival to the Raleigh North Carolina airport. The team met up at the car rental site with the two Quebecois athletes, Marie-Eve Gélinas, and Daynius Roy along with their coach Stephane Gélinas. It would be here they would wait to be taken to the hotel where they could settle in before heading to the nearest mall for some lunch, and shopping.
After killing time at Crabtree mall, they returned to the hotel to finally get sorted into their own rooms. Soon after they got organized they met up to begin some competitive UNO games. Then the team would head out for dinner at Buffalo Brothers just down the street from the hotel. After they would head back to the hotel for a swim, before heading to bed. The girls had a very early morning for the official practice.
Day 2 (Practice)
The women were up and ready to go, eagerly awaiting their start on the field. They got in some quality practice to prepare themselves for the competition.
The men followed soon after; due to the heat there was only a brief window to take photos before being brought back to the comforting AC in the hotel.
Later after, when all the athletes had freshened up, they headed out for a reservation at TGIF's for dinner.
DAY 3&4 (Qualifications)
The team performed exceptionally well during qualifications: a Personal Best by Reece gave him a finish in 9th. Andrew finished in 12th, Devaang 15th, Julian 22nd, Hayden Edwards 31st, Daynius Roy in 36th, and 4th place earned by Ben who was shooting the entire week ill. For the women, we had Emily Breitkopf finishing 16th with a score one off her PB, Marie-Eve Gélinas in 18th, Sarah-Grace 25th, Katie Rockburn 54th, Brianna in 50th, and Audrey Khan(in the photo) who is only a cub in 33rd.
Extremely high heat indexes during the afternoon of both 720s delayed the women and the men, where shooting was delayed by an hour during the first 720 round and an hour and a half in the second. But even with the heat pounding down the team still pulled off some amazing scores and placements, the following athletes winning medals for the guest category. Gold: Emily Breitkopf, Reece Wilson-Poyton, Benjamen Lee. Silver: Marie-Eve Gélinas, Brianna DeZeeuw, Andrew Waslen. Bronze: Sarah-Grace Chai, Devaang Gupta.
Day 5 (Eliminations)
It was another early day for the men as they headed to the field for match play, as the women cheered them on while following the scores on between ends. With Hayden, Julian, and Ben all winning their first match, Daynius was knocked out after a tough match. All other men had a bye in the first round. Reece, Julian, and Ben all won their second matches. But it would be Julian and Ben who would be the only archers making into the quarter-finals after an astounding performance by Reece who took his match all the way to a shoot-off. Unfortunately it would only be Ben (in photo) who shot for a medal, falling just one point short of bronze. It was during these matches that the women were notified once again that shooting would be delayed all the way until 4pm due to the heat. So they waited patiently at the hotel, until they would head to the field.
The women would start at 4 o'clock on the dot with two ends of practice before heading straight into their first match. All of the women had matches in the first round. However, despite all of the other women that put up an amazing fight, it would only be Emily, Sarah-Grace, and Audrey that made it through their match. In the second round, Sarah-Grace would be knocked out by the 8th ranked archer, and Audrey by the top ranked seed. It would be only Emily (in photo) making it through to the 1/8th, where she would go up against the top ranked archer of her category. Unaware of who her opponent was, she stepped up to the line managing to take the first set. She managed to push her all the way to the last end where the pressure got to her on the last arrow, losing the match 6-4.
Returning to the hotel, the athletes quickly freshened up to then turn around and head out to the Morgan Street Food Hall for dinner.
Day 6 (Team Rounds)
Everyone was up extra early and ready to go, packing the vans with all their luggage to leave the hotel that day. Due to the hotel not having an early breakfast on weekends, the team would head across the road to Waffle House before heading to the field for the team rounds. As the athletes got organized into their teams, practice was underway soon to follow the first round of matches. In this round, Hayden's team would take out two of our athletes, Devaang and Daynius, with Reece and Brianna's team also being knocked out in the round. But it was good for the team Pink Bears (which included Emily Breitkopf and Katie Rockburn) because they would be able to recruit Reece to coach through their matches.
In the next round it would be Andrew's team that would beat Hayden's, with Marie-Eve's team also being knocked out in the round. In the semi-finals for Junior Men, both Andrew, and Julian's teams would fall to the second, the first ranked teams forcing them to shoot against each other for the bronze. In the quarters for the Junior Women, Sarah-Grace's team (in photo) would take out the Pink Bears, Emily and Katie Rockburn’s team. Afterwards, Sarah-Grace’s team won their Semi-Finals to shoot for Gold, along with Natalee and Audrey's teams also going for Gold.
With an amazing comeback, Julian's team would take bronze, while Andrew's would settle for a fourth place finish. Sarah-Grace's team would clinch their match with an outstanding 6-0 point win for gold. Natalee, with a team of only two, would also win gold with a 6-2 finish, and Audrey's team would win the silver.
Once all the athletes collected their medals and packed up their equipment, they went to the mall for lunch before going to the airport to head back home from the last USAT event of the year. It was a very long and hot weekend, but many of the athletes had their best performance so far this season, and would touch down in Toronto to head home and prep for Ontario provincials the following weekend.
Don't forget to stay tuned to receive updates on the development and identification squad throughout the outdoor season. Also make sure to check out the photos from every event, and feel free to share them via social media.
edited by Sarah-Grace Chai
All photos were taken by Emily Breitkopf with a Canon EOS 7D camera unless otherwise specified. You can find all archers instagrams in the contacts section of this website. Please seek permission from the photographer before using their photos on any accredited media platforms.
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