National archery event brings 800-plus to Balloon Fiesta Park

Jul. 19—The archer has six arrows in her side quiver, a bow in her hand and 50 meters of open space to a target. She takes out a pair of binoculars to get a better view of the "X" in the middle of the target. She puts down the binoculars and reaches for an arrow, placing it on the bow string. She draws the arrow back, target in sight, and let's go. Bull's-eye.

This was the exercise, and goal, for the more than 800 archers participating in the Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD) Target Nationals and JOAD U.S. Open at Balloon Fiesta Park this week.

The five-day event started Wednesday and goes through Sunday, attracting archers ages 8 to 20 from throughout the country and Canada.

Olivia Dean, a world gold medalist, was leading the girls compound 18-under category after the first day of competition Thursday, having scored a 10 (a bull's-eye) more often than not in her 144 attempts.

The 17-year-old Pennsylvania native, who's a part of the Lancaster JOAD team, said this particular New Mexico event stood out to her.

"Originally, I wasn't gonna come here (New Mexico) just because I was focusing on senior stuff, but I really love JOAD Nationals. ... Last minute, I decided to come here. I've never been to New Mexico, so that was one of the reasons I wanted to," she said.

Francesca Benavidez, an 18-year-old Eldorado graduate and state champion swimmer, is competing in the barebow 21-under division.

Benavidez said she starting shooting a bow in eighth grade but has been competing in archery competitions for only 18 months.

"One guy at our local (archery) shop was like, 'You shoot pretty good, you should go compete,' so I shot indoor nationals," she said. "I just loved it so much."

Only six months after she began competing, Benavidez set a record, scoring 1,210 (out of 1,440) in the barebow 18-under division at last year's JOAD event in Des Moines, Iowa. Her score was also better than any competitor shot in the 21-under division.

Benavidez is atop the leaderboard for the barebow 21-under division this year, shooting a 1,207 going into Saturday.

Kaydance Barrett also didn't have to travel far to compete in JOAD this year as she's from New Mexico, too. She's participating in the fixed pins 13-under category.

"It seemed fun to do," said Barrett, 9, one of the youngest competitors.

Dean, Benavidez and Barrett are among the 839 total competitors in 32 divisions, 16 for boys and 16 for girls. The four age groups are 13-under, 15-under, 18-under and 21-under. The four disciplines (or bow types) are fixed pins, barebow, recurve and compound. The distance from the archer to the target varies with each division,

The 32 winners of each division will be named Saturday, and Sunday will be an optional team event.

Mandy Griego, who has been coaching New Mexico club archery for 14 years, made the proposal to bring the JOAD event to Albuquerque for the first time.

"This is what we can bring to the table — the hotels, the restaurants, the family-friendly activities, the weather," she said, relaying what she told event coordinators. "It's such a wonderful place to visit. It's affordable and easy to get to. ... We really want this."

The city of Albuquerque, which worked with JOAD to set up the event, estimates it brought 2,640 people to the city and $1.8 million in direct spending to the local economy.

For information, including event schedules, visit usarchery.org. For results, visit https://www.betweenends.com/tournament/2022/event/3420.