60X Staff Shooter - Clare Maness

Clare Maness - Houston, Texas

Claire Maness lives in the Houston area but was born in Chicago and grew up on the West Coast. She is a 60X Staff Shooter and loves archery. Read on to learn more about her.

How did you get involved in archery?

• I rock climbed competitively as a kid, and a climbing friend of ours was an avid shooter and friends with Lloyd Brown, the Olympic coach back then. It was through this friend (and my dad, who bow hunted) that I got involved in shooting and ended up shooting under Lloyd's guidance.

How long have you been shooting?

• Technically, about 27 or 28 years. But that's with a 21-year break in there! I started shooting in the mid-'90s, but stopped around '99 or '00 and took up the sport again at the beginning of '21.

What do you like to do when you're not shooting?

• My husband and I RV full time, and I love the camping/exploring adventuring of that. We also sail and SCUBA dive. I love to read (gimme some Jane Austen any time!), and I do a lot of yoga and like taking the dog for long walks.

Indoor or outdoor archery?

• Outdoor (especially field)

3D or target?

• Target (field)

What is your favorite 3D target?

• Dinosaurs!!!

What is your least favorite 3D target?

• Those wretched little fish or the armadillos!

Who is your favorite competitor?

• Vic Wunderle has long been a shooting hero for me. As has Jay Barrs. I got to shoot a field event with Kevin Mather last year and have mad respect for him. And I admire Toja Ellison's ability to balance competition and life/motherhood.

What is your funniest travel story?

• Man, that's a tough one. I once danced bachata with a random Cuban on a beach outside Havana when Castro was still alive. I got marooned outside Rome with a Russian woman I didn't know, and we spent two days exploring a Mediterranean beach town, communicating through drawings in a coloring book. And a shaman in Guatemala once made a really good prediction that I would move into an RV in the near future.

What is your favorite place to eat while traveling?

• Anything small and local (though that has cost me in "tummy upsets" a few times!).

What is your favorite archery moment of all time?

• Wining a buck off Vic Wunderle in an after-dark clout match when we were kids. He still denies I won, but somewhere, I still have the dollar I made him sign!

What is your favorite sport other than archery?

• Sailing. Hands down. I love the water.

What is your favorite sports team?

• Da Bears. And the Bulls. Because I'll always love Chicago teams.

What is your greatest accomplishment?

• Man. That's really hard. The value of accomplishments can be so subjective. I'm really proud of the adventures I've had. I've lived on sailboats and in RVs (alone and with my husband). I've traveled to some cool places alone. I've practiced law for some pretty darn-good causes. On the Jersey shore, on a dare, I once ate an entire LARGE pepperoni pizza on my own. I won five bucks for it, too. And I'm an auntie to two amazing little soon-to-be cub shooters!

Who was your childhood hero?

• Jim Thorpe (I still have the poster of him I had over my bed).

What is your hidden talent?

• I can stand on my head for long spans of time (my record is 22 minutes).

What is your proudest moment?

• The moments when I've been kicked in the gut (pretty hard) and gotten back up, even when it hurt like h*$$ to do so!

What is your favorite kind of music?

• Country! My husband is a singer-songwriter for fun, performing Texas/red-dirt country at local venues. His works are my favorite!

What are your words to live by?

• Go catch that horizon.

What is the coolest thing about competing in archery tournaments?

• Traveling, meeting people, hanging out with friends, having little goals to tackle. 

What is your favorite tournament venue?

• I love the NFAA center in Yankton.

What is your advice for someone just getting started in archery?

• Enjoy it. Don't make a lot of "plans" or decide how you'll win this, that, or the other event. Shoot field archery. Travel a little and meet new people. Count your successes in the number of odd-ball adventures you have.

What are your current equipment choices?

• I shoot a Win and Win ATF-X riser with Win and Win MXT limbs and Win and Win stabilizers. I shoot a Shibuya Ultima sight, and I use Black Eagle X-Impact arrows (again, I shoot a lot of field). And of course, I ONLY shoot 60X strings!!!!

What competitions have you won?

• My biggest finishes include:
  • USA Archery 2022 Field Nationals, 4th Place
  • Team USA Alternate for Field Archery World Championships '22
  • '22 Texas Indoor State Champion (for TSAA and TFAA)
  • '22 Texas TSAA State Field Champion (setting three state records)
  • IFAA 2021 North American Field Archery Championships, gold medalist (setting a field-round record)
  • Texas State Archery Association 2021 Shooter of the Year
  • NFAA 2021 Field Archery National Champion (setting an animal-round record)
  • NFAA 2021 Outdoor Target National Champion (setting two records)
  • 2021 Dakota Classic, silver medalist
  • USA Archery 2021 Field Archery Nationals, silver medalist
  • Vegas Shoot 2021, bronze medalist
  • Collegiate All American for UCSD '98 and '99
  • Collegiate Western Regional Champ '99

Tell me about yourself.

• I'm over forty, have the best husband who supports me in SO much, and love our RV crew (a mutt dog and a savage feline pirate-captain cat). When I grow up, I want to fly in a hot-air balloon, visit Pitcairn Island in the middle of the Pacific, and round Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope on boats. My happiest memory is standing on a jetty off Galveston Island with my husband, looking at the lights of a raucous boardwalk at night. My lock screen for my phone features my husband winning his first-ever archery medal at this past spring's TSAA Texas state field-archery championships (he shoots compound). He got into shooting last year and loves it. Shooting with him is the BEST!

Please add anything else you'd like to share.

• If you don't love Mexican food, ice cream, and whipped cream, maybe we can't be friends.

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