Gold Tip’s Morgan Takes Men’s Bronze; Houser Claims Junior Men’s Gold, at the European Archery Festival
OutdoorHub 01.28.14
Nearly 900 participants from 41 countries made the trek to Telford, Great Britain for the eagerly anticipated 2014 European Archery Festival, which included some of America’s own homegrown talent. At the end of the three day event, held 1/24-1/26 at the Telford International Centre, Gold Tip’s own Levi Morgan took home the Bronze in the Men’s Compound Division while David Houser won Gold in the Compound Junior Men’s Division.
The European Archery Festival began with a 60-arrow qualification round, with all targets set at 18 meters. After 60 arrows, the field was ranked by score, with the top 32 scores in each division going on to head-to-head knockout matches. In the set-system knockout rounds, each archer shoots 3 arrows, with the highest score for those three arrows receiving 2 points. A draw splits points, with 1 point going to each archer. The first archer to 6 set points wins the match. If after 5 sets of 3 arrows there’s a tie, a final arrow is shot and the closest to the middle wins the match.
Coming out of the 60 arrow qualifying round, Gold Tip’s own, Paul Tedford and Chance Beaubouef, shot their way into the impressive second and fourth positions, respectively. Morgan found himself in the 21st position heading into the knockout rounds, where he quickly found his rhythm.
“I don’t know what it was, but I finally settled down and found my confidence,” said Morgan. “I kept hearing my little boy’s laugh and thought about home and it helped put things into perspective and allowed me to focus on each individual arrow.”
Round by round, Beaubouef, Morgan and Tedford, all shooting Gold Tip’s Series 22 Pro arrows, pushed their way through the bracket with each victory. Eventually, Beaubouef and Morgan would meet in the Quarter Finals, with Morgan coming out on top with a 6-2 win. The fate of both Tedford and Morgan were sealed in the Semi Finals, as both lost to archers from the Netherlands. Morgan, ran his Semi Final match against the eventual Gold Medal winner, Peter Elzinga, to a tie and lost by mere millimeters in the single arrow shoot-off. The battle for the Bronze was now set between the two Gold Tip Pro Staffers, Morgan and Tedford. Morgan went on to claim third place with a 6-4 victory.
Gold Tip’s David Houser, a gifted young archer shooting in the Compound Junior Men’s Division, came out of the early 60-arrow qualifying heat ranked in first position and never gave it up. Houser handily knocked out competitors during the head-to-head competition until facing off against Baris Tandogan, of Turkey, in the final match. Houser claimed the well-earned Gold after a 7-3 victory. Like his fellow Gold Tip shooters, Houser was shooting Gold Tip’s Series 22 Pro arrows. Houser, Morgan and Beaubouef were also keeping steady, using Bee Stinger stabilizer systems.
“It’s an amazing accomplishment, not only for Gold Tip and Bee Stinger, but for our country,” said Gold Tip’s Director of Sales, Mitch McKay. “To step up and face not only the best archers our own country has to offer, but the best the world has to offer, says plenty for the American talent and for the Gold Tip and Bee Stinger products that helped them along the way.”
