Wunderle top competitor, coach

By Colleen Kane
The Cincinnati Enquirer

There are times when Joy Fahrenkrog's boyfriend and archery coach Vic Wunderle makes things a little too simple, when he maybe forgets that he has 21 more years of experience as an archer than his female counterpart.

"It's funny, he'll be like, 'Just shoot a 10. That's all you have to do,' " Fahrenkrog said. "I have to learn it, whereas I think he's got it innately."

So far at his fourth U.S. Olympic Archery Trials, the 28-year-old Wunderle has made it almost that easy.

Wunderle won four of his eight round-robin matches with an average score of 111 points per match Wednesday at Mason's Heritage Oak Park. He overtook Tuesday's top qualifier, Richard Johnson, to move into first place of the 16 remaining men, with a two-day score of 2,229. Johnson is close behind with 2,224, followed by John Burkett with 2,205.

After a dominating first round, Jennifer Nichols remains atop the female competitors with 2,200 points, 94 points ahead of second-place Kendra Harvey. In her first Trials after starting archery less than a year and a half ago, Fahrenkrog sits in seventh at 2,044.

After today's seven round-robin matches, the points will be totaled and the field will be cut to eight male and female archers, who will finish competition Friday and Saturday for three spots each on the men's and women's Olympic team.

Wunderle is trying to make his second Olympic team. He went to his first Trials at age 16 in 1992 and placed 16th, and in 1996, he placed sixth, he said. Then in 2000, he won the Trials and went on to win an individual silver medal and a team bronze in the Sydney Olympics. Now he's eyeing the gold medal to complete his set.

"I've been training for it and working hard. It's nice to have the experience of the others behind me," Wunderle said. "It isn't exactly routine. I'm just trying to do my best. But I've been through enough tournaments that there's no new surprises."

No surprises, because he has been figuring out the sport for 23 years. Wunderle has been shooting since he was 5 years old. At 14, he switched to the Olympic bow to begin his quest to make the U.S. Olympic Team. And in college, he was on a Texas A&M team with fellow Trials competitors Chris Shull and Guy Krueger, a team Shull said never lost a competition in four years.

"(Wunderle and Krueger) are both really intense," Shull said. "They're guys you want on your team, but at the same time, you have to live up to what's expected of you. On a team like that, there's a lot of expectations. You quit horsing around."

About a year ago, Wunderle became part of a different team, when he went over to Fahrenkrog's target at the national championships and wouldn't leave until she talked to him, she said. Fahrenkrog had just switched from rowing to archery about six months before, for the main purpose of making an Olympic team.

The two began dating, then started training together, and he became her coach. Fahrenkrog has finished in the top five of U.S. women in four of her last five tournaments, she said.

McKittrick, Shull move up

Jason McKittrick of Holton, Ind., moved up six spots from his opening-round 12th place to finish Day 2 of the Trials in sixth place.

After making the cut Tuesday in a shootoff, Shull, of Columbus, moved up one spot to 15th.