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Sep 02, 2026

NFAA Crowns 2026 Shooter of the Year Winners

The NFAA is proud to announce the 2026 Shooter of the Year (SOY) winners, recognizing 25 archers who demonstrated outstanding consistency and performance throughout the year across a wide range of NFAA competitions.

A New Season-Long Race

The 2026 season marked the first year of the NFAA’s newly updated Shooter of the Year program. The expanded program was designed to provide broader representation of the NFAA competition calendar while recognizing outstanding archers across all NFAA shooting styles and categories. An impressive total of 244 archers qualified for Shooter of the Year across all categories, highlighting the depth of participation throughout the inaugural year of the updated program. Adult Male Freestyle had the largest field, with 64 qualifying archers competing for the year-end title.

Rather than focusing on a single event or discipline, the SOY program rewards archers for sustained success throughout the season. Point multipliers were assigned to eligible tournaments based on their prestige and longstanding tradition within the NFAA calendar. Those multipliers were then applied to each archer’s final placement within their respective category, creating a season-long points race that rewarded both performance and participation.

The 2026 SOY schedule included some of the NFAA’s premier events, including The Vegas Shoot, Indoor Nationals, Field Nationals, Target Nationals, Marked 3D Nationals, 1-Arrow 3D Nationals, the First Dakota Classic, and Rushmore Rumble. Indoor and Outdoor National Series events were also eligible for SOY points. These National Series competitions were based on the traditional NFAA Sectional Championships, with archers competing at Sectional events in locations across the country. Scores from those Sectional Championships were then combined to determine the National Series standings, giving archers another opportunity to earn SOY points while competing in their local or regional Sectional event.

To qualify for SOY, archers were required to compete in at least four eligible events within the same SOY category. While only an archer’s top six placement results counted toward their final SOY ranking, competitors could participate in as many eligible events as they wanted. This format encouraged continued participation throughout the season while rewarding archers who went beyond the minimum qualifying requirement. Read more about all SOY program rules and eligibility requirements. 

Close Battles and Standout Performances

The inaugural season featured multiple close races, with some titles not decided until the final competition arrows of the year. The closest battle came in the Senior Professional Male category, where two legends of the sport, Tim Audus and Tim Gillingham, entered Outdoor Target Nationals in Yankton, South Dakota separated by just one season ranking point. Audus trailed Gillingham heading into the final event, but a victory at Target Nationals gave Audus the points needed to overtake Gillingham and secure the Senior Professional Male SOY title by a single ranking point, 485 to 484.

Another closely contested race came in Adult Male Bowhunter, where Justin Clemens edged Ray Heisler by just 4.5 season ranking points. Clemens closed out his season with a strong 2nd place finish at Outdoor Target Nationals, securing the points needed to take the inaugural SOY title.

At the other end of the spectrum, Christopher Fong established one of the most dominant margins of the inaugural season in Junior Male Freestyle. Fong finished the year with 509 season ranking points earned across six qualifying events, nearly doubling the season total of his nearest competitor.

Celebrating the 2026 SOY Winners

The Professional Male and Professional Female Shooter of the Year winners each earned a $2,500 grand prize, while the Senior Professional Male winner received a $1,000 prize. All 25 SOY winners were recognized following the 2026 Outdoor Target Nationals, the final event of the NFAA season. Each winner received a large, personalized Shooter of the Year medal commemorating their accomplishment.

The 2026 SOY winners will also be featured in the upcoming edition of Archery Magazine, where they will share details about their archery careers and give readers an opportunity to get to know the individuals behind the accomplishments. The complete list of the 2026 Shooter of the Year winners is included below.

Shooter of the Year Category	Winner
Professional Female Freestyle	Paige Pearce
Professional Male Freestyle	Kyle Douglas
Senior Professional Male Freestyle	Tim Audus
Adult Female Barebow Recurve	Archana Kongara
Adult Female Bowhunter	Tracy Bastek
Adult Female Freestyle	Shawn Wood
Adult Female Freestyle Limited Recurve	Olivia Canaday
Adult Female Longbow	Kelly Eagleton
Adult Female Traditional	Christine Kelley
Adult Male Barebow Compound	Kenneth Liberton
Adult Male Barebow Recurve	Joel Turner
Adult Male Bowhunter	Justin Clemens
Adult Male Freestyle	Jacob McArthur
Adult Male Freestyle Limited	Dave Hryn
Adult Male Freestyle Limited Recurve	Michael Cleary
Adult Male Longbow	Bernhard Goesmann
Adult Male Traditional	Alan Eagleton
Junior Female Barebow Recurve	Anna Li
Junior Female Bowhunter	Rebecca Dillow
Junior Female Freestyle	Chloe Nelsen
Junior Female Freestyle Limited Recurve	Ella Phillips
Junior Male Barebow Recurve	Sean Ethan Diep
Junior Male Bowhunter	Clayton Jones
Junior Male Freestyle	Christopher Fong
Junior Male Freestyle Limited Recurve	Oliver Lambert

The first year of the expanded SOY program highlighted the depth and diversity of talent within the NFAA. With 244 archers qualifying across the various categories, the program provided a new way to recognize athletes for sustained success while encouraging participation across the NFAA competition calendar. As the program moves forward, the NFAA looks forward to continuing to develop and grow Shooter of the Year, expanding opportunities for participation while recognizing the valued archers who consistently perform at a high level throughout the season.

The NFAA congratulates all 2026 Shooter of the Year winners on an outstanding season and looks forward to seeing everyone in 2027!

View Final Season Rankings

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