Sunshine State Games Archer Continues Success from Youth to College

At the 2022 Sunshine State Games, presented by Amazon, Archery Championships, held at the Easton-Newberry Archery Complex, nearly 80 archers, ranging in ages from under 10 to almost 90, lined up and shot from three distances in the 900 Round Sunday.

From 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., the archers battled through the heat and humidity, wind and a few rain drops. Through it all, 19-year old Alicia Aviles, of Tamarac (middle in photo), emerged with the overall high score, an 864 of a possible 900, to win the gold medal in the Adult Women’s Freestyle event.

When Matt Hall was informed he shot the top men’s score of 862, but was “beaten by a girl,” for the top overall score, he shrugged it off immediately.

“That’s ok,” he said. “She’s one of my students.”

Whatever Hall has been doing to mentor her on the archery range is obviously working.

Aviles began shooting in the Sunshine State Games at 12 years old in 2015. She’s home for the summer, from Mount Marty University, in Yankton, South Dakota, where she is a member of the school’s archery team, on scholarship, and is coached by Olympic archer Vic Wunderle.

Aviles and her Mount Marty teammates are fresh off a sixth place finish at the Collegiate National Championships, where 47 teams and over 500 athletes competed at the end of May. Mount Marty won the Mixed Recurve National Championship defeating Texas A&M.

Over the last four years in the Sunshine State Games, Aviles has seen her Freestyle scores rise from 674 in 2019, as a 16-year old. to the overall high score today of 864.

To begin the day at the Easton Newberry Archery Complex, Florida Sports Foundation President Angela Suggs announced the creation of the Tim Austin Excellence in Archery Award to be awarded beginning in 2023. The Award will honor the many years of service provided by the late Tim Austin, of Gainesville, who was the Archery Sport Director for the Sunshine State Games and Florida Senior Games.

On the final day of Pickleball at Ronnie Van Zant Memorial Park, in Green Cove Springs, Mark Attwood, of The Villages, just missed the Pickleball “Triple Crown,” of winning Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles.

On Friday, he won the Men’s Singles 65-69 gold medal. He teamed with Bill Harris, on Saturday to win the Men’s Doubles 60-64 age group gold medal, but was thwarted in his Triple Crown effort by his Men’s Doubles teammate.

Attwood and Lisa Sullivan won the silver medal, while the gold was awarded to Harris and Wendy Bledsoe, all from The Villages, in the 55-59 Mixed Doubles age group.

For results from this weekend’s competitions, as well as all previous 2022 Sunshine State Games events, please visit www.sunshinestategames.com/results.

The 2022 Sunshine State Games presented by Amazon, continues next weekend with four sports in Polk County and the continuation of one in Clay County.

Taekwondo and Judo will be held at the AdventHealth Sports Complex, in Auburndale, Golf will be played at the Cleveland Heights Golf Course, in Lakeland and Table Tennis is at the Simpson Park Community Center, also in Lakeland. Ultimate continues in Clay County, with the Men’s Division being played at the Plantation Sports Complex, in Fleming Island.

Online registration is still open through Monday, June 13 for Judo and Taekwondo. Visit the individual sports pages for both at www.sunshinestategames.com for competition and registration information.

The Sunshine State Games, presented by Amazon, are an annual presentation of the Florida Sports Foundation, the official sports promotion and development organization of the State of Florida. The Games are held in conjunction with local partners that include, Central Florida’s Polk County Sports Marketing, Clay County Tourism, the Gainesville Sports Commission and Visit Lauderdale. Now in its 43rd year, the Sunshine State Games are the longest continuously-running State Games in the U.S.