Senior Pro SHOOTDOWN ｜ 2025 Delta McKenzie ASA Classic

Our first group up here, senior pro. This is the standings for the tournament. Run those through us for Nathan. So Harold Koger at .399. Jeff Hopkins .400 in fourth place. Steven Altheiser, your shooter of the year, at .409 in third. Jack Wallace at .411. That's only one point behind our leader, Darren Christenbury, at .412. And normally Darren would be sitting right here beside you, except for when he's, you know, shooting his bow and doing really well. So that's when I get to come in. So I'm always happy when Darren shoots good, because I like this time with you, PJ. We are glad to have you here, Nathan Brooks. That is for sure. So it looks like our pros have done their judging. And so we're going to get right to the action. All right, here we go. We're going to start the shoot down tonight with senior pro. Our fifth place qualifier with a score of .399 and 10 bonus rings. From West Union, West Virginia, shooting for Darton, Harold Kogar. And our number four qualifier with a score of 413 bonus rings. From Lacona, Iowa, shooting for Matthews, Jeff Hopkins. Our third place qualifier with a score of .409 and 12 bonus rings. From Cedar Bluff, Virginia, shooting for Elite, Steven Altheiser. And our number two qualifier with a score of 411 and 12 bonus rings. From Townville, South Carolina, shooting for Matthews, Jack Wallace. And our number one qualifier with a score of 412 and 10 bonus rings. From Spencer, Indiana, shooting for Elite, Darren Christianberry. All right, Nathan. So for our folks who are just potentially tuning into a broadcast for the first time, we've got five pros out there. We've got five targets, and this is what we call unknown distance. Run through what that means for our viewers. So these targets are set at a distance that is unknown to them. Now, these guys are really good at figuring that distance out. So in the game of archery, every yard at the speeds that these guys are shooting, if they miss the distance, that's usually about an inch to an inch and a half of change in elevation. So these guys have to get this distance really, really close in order to get the score they're looking for. All right. And we've got a series of, so this is what we call 3D archery. So we're shooting at foam animals out there. We've got a javelina, bedded buck, the wolf, sheep, and the lynx. We should mention that in this class, senior pro, the max distance is 50 yards, give or take a little bit, little wiggle room. So we know that much. Yeah, so they could be just a little past 50 or so. These guys, you know, they've been around a long time. There's a, I can't begin to tell you all the accomplishments that all these guys have had. I'm looking there at that javelina that Darren just shot. Can't tell if that's a 12 or not, but he's awfully close. Yeah. Excuse me. Yeah. Oh yeah. So, what a good way to start for Darren Christenberry at 12. So talking about unknown distance, PJ. Yep. The mindset of the shooter when he gets out there and he shoots that first target, that tells him what he needs to know about that field, about the rest of the targets out there. If he steps up and he hits that first one like Darren just did, I guarantee you his confidence is sky high now that he's right on all the rest of them. All the rest. And so that's what you, that's how you want to start. Now, for the guy that starts off and shoots low or shoots high, he may have to rethink things just a little bit. Like this one right here. Yeah. We've got a five. Yeah. Little low. Yeah, so there's a look at Jeff Hopkins right there, as you mentioned, has won a pile of these. Wow. 14? I did not expect that, but it does not surprise me. So Jeff Hopkins has been playing this game since the beginning and he's told me many times he has never missed an ASA. That's like over 30 years, I think it is. That's unbelievable. The tour started in 1993. 93, okay, so more than 30. Yeah. Crazy. I actually shot with Jeff one time in Louisiana and he had chicken pox. That tells you how bad he wanted to be there. And he hired a guy at the local grocery store, just run into a guy and hired him to come out and pull a cooler of drinks around for him because he was in such bad shape. I'm not lying. I was there, I saw that. Chicken pox, what is this, like the 1800s? That's what I'm saying. Crazy, crazy freak thing, but sure enough, he had chicken pox. Speaking of sick there, we just had a shot of Digger Kogar there. He's been battling, he said he's been sick all year, but he found a way to get it together and get into this final. Congrats to him. There's the big man. Farmer in Iowa. He grows some big deer, too. Yes, he does. And he shot at the links. He went for the 14 again. Naked eye right here, that's awfully close. He's in the right area. Digger shooting at the javelina, that's target number one. That looks like it's close to the low 12, providing that's what he was shooting at, and I think it was. So, something to note here, too, PJ, for your first time viewers, the way this is scored, you have an upper and a lower 12. Now, the shooter has to call the upper 12. He has a flag, basically, that he can lift up at the shooting stake that indicates he was shooting at the upper. Now, I know all these guys really well. I doubt any of these guys are shooting at uppers. Most of these guys are lower 12 shooters. For the simple reason, they've been around this sport a long time, and how it originated was lower 12s. We did not have the upper 12s for a long time, so they're used to shooting at the lowers. And target recognition is really important. You mean, as you can tell, there's no orange dot, there's no sticker down there that says, this is where you're supposed to hold. So, they have to go off of memory. They use their binoculars to find those locations, and then they just horn in on it and give it their best. Yeah, some of these targets, when the camera gets up, we can see those rings, but from their distance, you know, 30 plus yards, they may not be able to see. I mean, plus they're over 50, they're seniors. Right, right. Ooh, look at that. Man, that is close, and he got it. So, that's a perfect back-to-back, perfect picture of what we deal with when we're scoring these arrows, because that arrow has to touch the line. It doesn't have to break the line. It just has to touch it. Now, these are foam targets, and we stress this all the time. When an arrow hits a foam target, it can distort that line into the arrow sometimes. So, it's not as easily called as you might think. So, when you're there at the target, you can get a better look at it. Good explanation there, Nathan. Yes, as we call, you'll probably hear us saying, pulling the line, that's what you're talking about. So, something here I want to say about Jack. So, again, all these guys are senior pros. I've known them for many, many years. Jack was in an accident. Yep. I don't know how many years ago. Literally had his bow arm bicep ripped off of his arm. Wasn't sure he'd ever be able to shoot again, and here he is, you know, still competing all these years later. And there's a little fist bump. He must've liked that one. Got that one. He was shooting the sheep there. Darren, we have, Darren is actually shooting at the wolf. I believe that's our longest target out here. It looks like it to the, to our eye. Oh, whoa. That is low. So, again, Nathan, you know, as you mentioned, judging distance. So, people be like, oh, he barely hit that thing. He doesn't know how far it is. No, he doesn't. He guessed. Yes. And in this type of archery, that's as much a skill as being a good archer. Probably more. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, you have to be able to get that distance right and you got to be confident in it, and that helps you make a good shot when you're confident in the distance. So, depending on what, we could have some movement here because Jack gave a fist bump. Yeah, so there was just three points separating Darren and Jack for this target. So, that could be a seven point swing, which could give Jack a four point lead. If nothing else, it's probably going to be a two point lead. Here we go. This is Jack's. There he is. Upper 12. Yeah, so now Jack Wallace, four point lead over Darren Christianberry, anyway. There's your shooter of the year, Steven Altheiser, popping that bubble. Got that bubble. Oh, he just clipped that eight. Close. And Steven's in a position after that first target. You feel like you really have to go after him hard, and you got Jeff over here that's hitting 14s. So, it puts a lot of pressure on you to match what's happening. And coming around to Jack Wallace. He struggled this year. I mean, I don't think that's any stretch to say. He has struggled. Got it together here ahead of this last tournament. Now is in the lead. I mean, congrats to him. However this turned out, turns out because he has put together a good weekend so far. Oh yeah, for sure. For sure. And you know, there's, again, a guy that's been at this sport for a long time, had tons of success, talking about Jack. Yeah. And, you know, he moved into the senior pro class this year and honestly, I think a lot of people expected him to do extremely well. And it's been tough. But there's a lot of talent in this center pro class. There are some great shooters there. Steve, I don't know if he was going at that upper, but he's awful close. If that's what he was shooting at. Can't see his. So there's a good example, Nathan, what we were talking about. That javelina with those dots, you can get lost trying to find those rings when you're aiming at that. So they just know the targets and know where to aim. Oh, I think that's a 10. Just touching the line. Yes, it is. Sorry. So Steven is standing beside or accompanied by Keith. Alstrom now, I believe not last year, but two years ago, Keith won the classic. Yeah. Winner of our last two tournaments in this division was Keith Alstrom. Yeah. Jeff Hopkins doing what he, as much as he can to keep moving. Yeah, it looks like he was going for a 12 on that one instead of a 14, couple yards hot probably. So that, that's exactly what that would be. PJ is about two yards hot at that distance. And when I say hot, that means, I'm just throwing this out there. If that target was 50 yards, if he shot it for 52, that's about where his arrow would have hit. Maybe 51 and a half. There's an eight for Darren. He's not going to be too happy about, about this. 10 for Jack. He's got a six point lead now, does Jack Wallace. She's got Jeff actually creeping up on Darren as well. Should only be a one point lead for Darren for second at this point. Yeah, so Nathan, ASA president, Josh Grein is giving the word out there. This is our fifth arrow, and anyone within 10 points of the leader will shoot a sixth arrow. And right now that would stop at just Jack, Darren, and Jeff currently. Yes. Jack's actually calling the upper here, but he's made his, you see him reach down, he flipped up his flag that he has to lift. He's still thinking on the range. Upper. Get it, Jack, hit it. A little bit of wiggle in that shot. Oh, I think he's just under it. Stayed at 10, looks like, but I think he just missed it. And you know, that's the beauty of the upper call, is typically if you miss, you're going to miss low. So if you call the upper, and you're shooting hard at it, and you miss, you're more likely to miss low, and you're still a 10 point scorer. Hit the 10, yeah. Yep, so 465, 10 for Jack. Next up. Stephen Altheiser. Yeah. Stephen takes an eight. 448. There's a little wind, actually. I just came out. It was mostly calm here, and now, yeah. Jeff Hopkins. Just over that lower 12. 446. Now we come to Harold Kogar. I know him as Digger, so I have a hard time calling him Harold. Yeah, we all know him as Digger. 453, and Darren Christianbury went for that 14, Nathan. It's right, it's in the right area. Oh, just to the right of it, man. Just off, man. Well, that was a good move for him, though, at least as far as the decision. Now, obviously, he didn't get the score he wanted, but that was the right decision for him to make there, because if he was going to hang on to second place, he needed to, or to come get close to winning this event again. I'm sorry, I said hang on to second place. If he needed to put a little pressure on Jack, that 14 would have helped right there. Yeah, so congratulations to Harold Kogar. He's going to finish in fourth. Stephen Altheiser is going to finish fifth. All right, so Nathan, we see Tommy, one of our judges, bringing out the Wolverine. So for our sixth arrow, they have chosen to just pick a spot, plan a target. Guys will get a minute to judge it. Scott Parrott may move their shooting position off the line, and it'll be a fresh target. I hate that target that you're putting out there, by the way. That is one of the hardest targets to shoot because of the color of the target. As you can see, he's dark on his back, and he's dark down below. So unless you have the light just right, you can't really gauge the target's size. And then when you do get the light on him, he looks like he's closer than he actually is because you're finally getting to see him. You're finally getting to see that target when the light is on it full size. So, oh, he's so deceiving to have to judge distance on. These guys that use range finders, they don't care what it is. Our producer says, yeah, but he's so adorable. Probably just needs a hug. Yeah, that thing at 50 yards, Nathan, especially in the woods. I recall a target placement last year in London, Kentucky, where they had that. We walked up and I spent about a minute just trying to find it. I swore there wasn't a target out there. Right by a log. And then somebody said, look under that log. I was like, holy cow, I would have missed it. Yeah, I shot that target. I remember that well. I tended it and was just jubilant. And walked away and said, okay. Yeah, but out here in the open, they can see it. Looks like Jeff Hopkins gonna be up at 456. And Nathan, this is largely a race for second place. Jack Wallace has just separated himself. He really has. I mean, that's a nine points difference between Jeff and Jack. Jack would literally have to miss the target. And then, of course, obviously, you got eight points between Darren and Jack. So it really is a second place race at this point. So let's get in the mindset of Jeff right here for just a second. Now, this guy's won everything. You think he's really concerned about getting... Uh-oh, he can't get any worse than 30. He's on the podium. So you know what he's gonna do here. He can miss the target. He's on the podium. 14. Why would he not shoot at the 14? And watch him do something that totally blows my mind. But more than likely, I think I'll finish. There, you can see it on the right side of that box there. You can see that 14. It's got a little dot in it. Yeah, it does. Oh, underneath it. That's about two yards. That's an eight. So a little bit of a misjudge. So Darren feels a little bit of ease here. He still ain't happy about second place. No, he wanted that win. But I'm gonna tell you what. If I had told Darren before this weekend started, hey, bud, you're gonna get second place this weekend. And you don't even have to shoot these targets. Would you take second place? Or do you wanna shoot them? He'd say, heck no, I'll take my chances. I'm gonna go shoot them. Yes, he would. So this is... So here, Nathan, if he's hot, as you mentioned, and slides up into the five, he drops to third. Yeah, so in this situation, I just don't see Darren thinking really much outside of just shooting center 10 or 12. Okay. Because there's really no point. I mean, if he shoots at a 14, it's not gonna put any pressure on Jack. Yeah. But I could be wrong here. That's how I would be looking at it. Yeah. There you go. Dead center 10. You called it. Center 10. Take that. Well, take what most likely is a second. Jack has to shoot his last shot. True, true. But all Jack has to do is hit the target and he wins. We have seen in the past. We have. A leader accidentally make a horrible mistake or something like this and completely miss. He's trying to feel for the wind there. A little bit of breeze. Hey, it's been a while since he's won one of these, so I don't blame him. He's taken no chances. Good for you, Jack. Put that thing right in the middle and get it. Through it. There you go. That'll work. Upper 12, that's what I'm getting. Upper 12. That he called. Called an upper 12. That was his wife, Sharon, everybody. And she's super happy because he's worked hard. That's great. And it's been a while, as we said, since he had a win. I can't wait to ask him how good that feels. There you go. So, you know, here's the thing. As Jack gathers his stuff together and comes to get his interview, like Wes said before, with the senior pro class, these guys have been around 30 years. Yeah. You know, really all of them has, pretty much 20 to 30 years. So they love and know everyone here and everyone loves and knows them too. So, happy to see that for Jack. Absolutely. And he's coming over to get the headset on. Maybe. He's shaking hands. Hey, Jack. Jack Wallace, get to the interview. He forgot how to do this. Right. Here he comes over there. Yeah, we want to hear from Jack Wallace. Here he comes. Jack Wallace got the headset on. Jack, we were just talking. Been a while since you've been in that spot. How does that feel? Just amazing. It was a really rough season for me. Rough off season. Just health stuff and learning some new things. And just, I really struggled. But, you know, I said it earlier in the year, I got great people behind me, great family, great friends. They know who they are. That's great, man. I wouldn't be here without them. Love to see the emotion, Jack. We all know what a passionate archer that you are. Knowing the struggles that you went through, tell us about that. I mean, a lot of people would have given up. You don't give up. I just had some troubles and some stuff gave me issues with my eyes. And I had to try to figure out how to beat this thing and try to shoot with glasses and that didn't work. Contacts didn't work. So I finally figured out I could judge with my glasses and my scope and lens is so crystal clear, I can see the range. So I just judge with the glasses and take them off and shoot. And this was a good plan this weekend. It worked. Well, Jack, you've won a lot of tournaments in your history shooting this game. Does this one feel any different? Yeah, this one feels really, really, really special. It's been a while. I haven't won this Classic here since Open Pro in 14. So it's been 11 years since I got to go out on that field and finish it. That's awesome. That is fantastic. Congratulations. Good for you, Jack Wallace. You are our ASA Classic champ for 2025. Thanks guys. Appreciate it very much. All right, folks, don't go anywhere. We will come back with our Senior Known Pro Division up next.