UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Three Mifflin County archers who comprised the Pennsylvania 4-H archery team won the team championship at the recent National 4-H Shooting Sports Games at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, N.M.

Fifteen states were represented at the competition by four-member teams. The Pennsylvania team -- Brad Specht, Joe Young and Jonas Glick -- overcame adversity when their fourth teammate from Montgomery County was unable to attend. Ordinarily, the top three archers' scores are used to tally the total team scores. Without a fourth member, every shot by Glick, Specht and Young was counted.

"There were only three of us, so we had to focus on every shot," says Specht. Added Glick, "We had to be on our toes all week."

Along with the lack of a team member, the trio had to face challenging weather and equipment failure. The wind was blowing 30-35 mph during one event -- "too strong for shooting archery," says Young. Specht's yolk broke on his bow, and he had to continue shooting even though the strings kept breaking.

As a team, the archers placed first overall; first in 3-D archery, in which they shot at targets shaped like animals; second in FITA (Federation of International Target Archery), which had targets with a 122-centimeter face at 50 and 60 meters and an 80-centimeter face at 30 and 40 meters; and second in the field round, which consisted of black and white targets marked with different distances. Specht earned second place overall individual, first place individual FITA and second place individual in field. Glick earned third in individual FITA.

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Contact:

Cheryl Anthony cka106@psu.edu 814-863-0938 814-863-9877 fax

Chuck Gill cdg5@psu.edu 814-863-2713 814-863-9877 fax #207