SOAR had just concluded its third Archer of the Year (AOY) series last November 16-17, 2024 at the PANA Archery Range in SM Gamepark – Southmall, Las Pinas City. It was all about winning streaks, matches between family members, even a walk-up showdown, and that 1-millimeter tiebreaker.

As in the past two years, this SOAR year-ender featured the top eight (8) archers in each of these eight (8) Divisions – 15m Olympic Recurve (OR) Single-Face; 15m OR Tri-Face; 18m Barebow; 18m Traditional Bow; 18m Bowhunter; and the OR, Barebow, and Compound Bow categories of the SOAR 4D tournaments. Throughout the year, three legs of competitions were held per division. Accumulated scores of participants in those events determined the finalists for the Archer of the Year.

Arcus Archery Club, Benel Archery, Mission Hills Archery Club, Olympus Archery, PANA Archery, Saint Cruz Archery, and, of course, Southern Archers (SOAR) were among those who made it through to this two-day event. And here are the podium finishers:

4D Olympic Recurve
Archer of the Year – Anton Villamor (Arcus)
Silver – Jerrelle Tan (PANA)
Bronze – Jhun Raguin (Benel)

4D Barebow
Archer of the Year – Joseph Tan (PANA)
Silver – Iraya Barsana (SOAR)
Bronze – Alfred Tangco (SOAR)

4D Compound
Archer of the Year – Tobin Berry (Arcus)
Silver – Lee San Diego (Olympus)
Bronze – Edward Lamberte (SOAR)

18m Barebow
Archer of the Year – Clark Co (Saint Cruz)
Silver – Alfred Tangco (SOAR)
Bronze – Rochelle Tan (PANA)

18m Traditional Bow
Archer of the Year – Dianne Llanes (SOAR)
Silver – Iraya Barsana (SOAR)
Bronze – Nathan Gatmaitan (SOAR)

18m Bowhunter
Archery of the Year – Vincent Malupa (Richfields)
Silver – Jeff Pacubas (SOAR)
Bronze – Polly Madrid (SOAR)

15m Olympic Recurve Tri-Face
Archer of the Year – Yesha Tamayo (Arcus)
Silver – Jerrelle Tan (PANA)
Bronze – Joseph Tan (PANA)

15m Olympic Recurve Single-Face
Archer of the Year – Gail de Dios (Richfields)
Silver – Zoe Madrid (SOAR)
Bronze – Sachi Kato (SOAR)

This event brought in tournament favorites and more rising talents. So, expect our archery scene to have a higher level of fun and competition in the coming years.

Highlights of the Weekend

As mentioned earlier, this two-day event featured winning streaks, a 1-mm tiebreaker, and some rockstar feels. Here are stories and images from the weekend.

Winning Streaks and the 1-Millimeter Match

SOAR adopts the Lancaster rules for the AOY matches. The archer ranked eighth faces rank 7, and whoever wins that match faces rank 6, and so on. Every match requires each archer to shoot 3 arrows x 3 ends. And in both days of the 2024 AOY competition, there were archers who just went all in to grab more than a couple of matches.

Miguel Caeg (SOAR) started the winning streaks of Day 1 by topping his first 3 matches in the 15m Olympic Recurve Single-Face. Although, in his 4th match, he lost to Gail de Dios (Richfields), who ultimately won the Archer of the Year title by beating the next 3 archers.

But it was during the later hours (as the mall was already closing!) that everyone saw an amazing 7-match surge from Clark Co (Saint Cruz), who was the eventual Archer of the Year for the 18m Barebow Division. But this was not completed without a scare from the fearless second-seed Rochelle Tan (PANA). No one saw this coming — the tightest race of the weekend. As if it wasn’t enough that the 4 ends resulted in a tie, the inevitable shoot-off finished with just a 1mm-difference to finally break the deadlock!

In Day 2, Vincent Malupa (Richfields) shot his way to the Archer of the Year title by winning 6 matches in the 18m Bowhunter Division. In the 4D OR Division, Jhun Raguin (Benel) also won 6 matches, but bowed out in his duel against Anton Villamor (Arcus), who won next against first-seed Jerrelle Tan (PANA) to be the Archer of the Year in this category.

Family Face-Off

While archery clubs generally have a feeling of being a family, the 2024 AOY was a venue for real-life blood-related archers who actually or almost met in a match.

A few months ago, Miguel Caeg (SOAR), probably, had never thought that he would go up against his mother, Tisha Caeg, in an archery tournament. But yes, he did. And he prevailed even with Tisha’s playful threat of an allowance deduction. Miguel settled for 5th and Tisha, 6th, in the 15m OR Single-Face.

Brothers Vincent and Neal Malupa (Richfields) went up against each other in the 18m Bowhunter Division. Vincent prevailed in all his matches to bag the Archer of the Year title. Gelo Lacuesta (SOAR) could have faced his mother, Polly Madrid (SOAR), in a match had he won over Vincent. Gelo finished 4th, while Polly took the Bronze medal.

It would also have been another family match-up had Joseph and Jerrelle Tan  (PANA) met in the 15m OR Tri-Face. But it wasn’t meant to be. In that said Division, Jerrelle and Joseph settled for second and third places after both being beaten by Yesha Tamayo (Arcus).

Rockstar Feels

And so, the walk-up gimmicks of our archers have only gotten bolder! Some just had a big, happy face or a shy smile with a small wave, while others embraced the opportunity of coming out from behind the backdrop and heading out like a celebrity. It has evolved into a major part of the archer’ preparation for this yearly event. “Which walk-up song to choose from my Spotify playlist?” Most took weeks to decide; some even took it to the extreme – a last-minute life-changing decision.

Noah Lufamia (Richfields), who danced to Ice Ice Baby (Vanilla Ice), got the best entrance prize in Day 1. His intro also figured as one of the top three in Day 2, together with those of Jeff Pacubas (SOAR) and Tobin Berry (Arcus). Jeff went in most entertaining Hulk mode to the tune of Centuries (Fall Out Boy). But Tobin ultimately got the nod of the crowd with his APT. (Bruno Mars and Rose) show.

The SOAR x HAP team-up who figured in the Trad competition, like Cerlene Paras, Jayson Tan, and Nathan Gatmaitan didn’t need any special effects as they donned their archer costumes as they would normally do.

Kudos to the rest of ’em archer-rockstars who just let it loose before their respective matches!

Congratulations to all the medalists and all those who have given their all in the three legs and in the AOY weekend this year! SOAR thanks PANA Archery, PBAA, Sagecraft, and Jojo Cruz of Mission Hills Archery Club for helping make this event possible.

If you want to know more about the fun and challenge of archery, drop by the SOAR Archery Range in AGC Lifestyle Park, Daang Hari, Las Pinas City. Or contact us through Facebook.

Archers with family and friends in two days of fun and competition.