Schloesser wins his 2nd Vegas Shoot title

Mike Schloesser won his second crown at The Vegas Shoot in 2017 after six ends of the championship open shootdown, beating out 14 other perfect-900 shooters over qualification plus the lucky dog in the archery arena at the SouthPoint Hotel and Casino.

“I was making good shots and that was my main porpoise in the finals and I achieved that,” said Schloesser. “I just told myself if there’s a problem, fix it. started working on things I needed, tried things until the final and I found what really worked for me.”

“The Vegas Shoot is one of the toughest competitions to win in archery, it’s very satisfying that I made it happen.”

And Mike made it happen for a second time. He previously won the event in 2014.

All 16 men to start the 2017 championship open shootdown survived the first end of scoring with the big, four-centimetre 10 in play.

Over the next two ends, both scored on the World Archery 10, half the size at two centimetres in diameter, 11 fell by the wayside. Just Stephan Hansen, Mike Schloesser, Steve Anderson, Kris Schaff and David Houser remained.

Anderson let down twice on his last shot in the fourth end and it sailed wide left, signalling the end of his run.

World Archery Champion Stephan Hansen looked to be on ice, too, after his first arrow cast a wide shadow on the target – but a closer look at the target kept him alive on a clean 30 points.

Schloesser and Houser were safe – but Schaff had one shot a millimetre low.

On David Houser’s last shot of the fifth, he had the middle get away from him. After a pair of pinholes, Houser’s arrow landed half shaft out of the little 10 and he was eliminated.

The last two World Archery Champions, Stephan Hansen (reigning since 2015) and Mike Schloesser (2013) remained.

Mister Perfect, Schloesser, the only man to have shot a perfect 600 on the World Archery 18-metre ranking round, shot first – and shot a clean, fast 30 points. Hansen put two 10s down, but his third was low and right.

Schloesser won Vegas for a second time.

The 16 archers to compete in The Vegas Shootdown in 2017 were: Stephan Hansen, Mike Schloesser, Steve Anderson, Kris Schaff, David Houser, Mario Vavro, Glen Bordwell, Reo Wilde, Chris Bell, Tate Morgan, Jesse Broadwater, Justin Hannah, Paul Tedford, Chance Beaubouef, Lewis Holmes III and lucky dog Dave Cousins.

For the first time, The Vegas Shoot’s main championship was open to both male and female archers. Only compound women’s world number one Sara Lopez entered and finished in 79th place after scoring 898, dropping a single point on each of the last two days.

Denmark’s Tanja Jensen won the women’s championship division, which translates to World Archery’s compound women, with 900 points over three days. It is the third time a woman has shot a perfect Vegas round after Mary Zorn in 2010 and Sarah Lance in 2014.

Other championship winners in Vegas included Brady Ellison, Song Jiyung, Anthony Ferraro, Chris Berry, Jack Williams and John Demmer III.

The fourth stage and final of the 2016/17 Indoor Archery World Cup ran 10/11 February 2017 in Las Vegas, USA as part of The Vegas Shoot on 10-12 February.

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