CINCINNATI, Ohio - The U.S. National Indoor Championships Final, March 15th in Cincinnati, Ohio is a spotlight showdown features the best of the best, as the top eight archers in each category go head to head in elimination matches for over $70,000 in prize money, with payouts to all places. New this year, barebow archers have a separate gender and age neutral category in the lineup, thanks to generous support from Lancaster Archery Supply.
Featured in the barebow lineup, Grayson Partlowe (Front Royal, Virginia) and John Demmer III (Kingsley, Pennsylvania) took the lead in qualification, ranking 1st and 2nd respectively with 1125/1200 each, 32 points clear the rest of the field. Demmer, a strong standout in the barebow community is the 2016 World Archery Field Championships team gold medalist and 2018 team silver medalist, who also brought home silver at the 2017 World Games. With extensive international event experience, he’s likely to be a top contender. Partlowe and Demmer have gone toe to toe on the national stage before; Partlowe has taken 2nd 3rd and 5th at the Lancaster Classic and boasts several state and national titles.
Fawn Girard (Martinsville, Ohio) is the sole woman to make the top eight, ranking 5th with a 1070. Girard is an impressive force. She competed at her first international event at the 2017 World 3D Championships. Looking for her next challenge, she picked up field archery less than two months before the World Archery Field Championships - U.S. Team Trials. After winning the Trials, Girard went to Italy, seeded 6th and shot her way to the gold final. We’re looking forward to seeing what she brings to Cincinnati.
Ranking 3rd and 6th respectively, masters archers Edward Krystofosky (Kingson, Pennyslvania) will take on Richard Stonebraker (Houston, Texas) in a highly anticipated quarterfinal matchup. Krystofosky has 37 years of archery experience and has made the Lancaster Classic shoot off the last five years, and in his debut Vegas appearance this year, came in 5th. Stonebraker is no stranger to the big stage, with four decades of archery experience including 1974 World Field Championships, several world masters podium finishes, and he has held multiple national and world records in recurve and barebow categories. Krystofosky broke Stonebraker’s master barebow national record in qualification for this event with a 1093.
John Dillinger (Smithfield, Utah) finished 2nd at last year’s Indoor Nationals and in the US Archery Team rankings. Runner up in Vegas earlier this year, Dillinger is a strong 4th place qualifier. 7th seed Marcus Cooley (Henderson, Nevada) has just four years of archery experience, and just 19 months of shooting barebow, but with such an impressive start, including a 6th place finish in barebow flights in Vegas, there’s no telling what he’s do at the Indoor Final this week.
Richard Barker (Coatesville, Pennsylvania) ranked 8th with a 1056 and rounds out the barebow field. With just three and a half years of experience, Barker has racked up impressive podium finishes. Barker has played the dark horse before, taking out barebow Titans in the 2018 Lancaster Classic as he climbed the brackets. He’ll have a tough first match against Partlowe but we look forward to catching the action.
To follow the Final on Friday, March 15th, tune in to USA Archery’s live results page for scores as the quarterfinals begin at 1:10pm ET. The gold medal matches will be available on Competition Archery Media’s YouTube channel at 2:15pm ET. Stay tuned to www.usarchery.org for previews of the recurve and compound divisions as we gear up for the Final.
