Olympic archer Janet Dykman, who has helped coach students enrolled in the archery program at CMC for the past two years, will travel to Mason, Ohio, June 14-19, to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Archery Team. If successful, this will be Dykman's third time as a member of the U.S. Olympic team. To qualify, she must place among the top three in her division; she currently is ranked fifth, nationally.

Dykman has assisted associate professor of education Randy Town in the instruction of archery at CMC since the inception of the College's archery program in fall 2002. The Easton Archery Range, made possible by a gift from the late Mary S. Easton, has enrolled dozens of CMC students and students from The Claremont Colleges since the range opened at Claremont Boulevard and Arrow Route. The gift also provides a needs-based scholarship for one archery student per academic year. Dykman's visits to campus—as much as twice weekly, and on weekends with advanced students—are coordinated through the James Easton Sports Foundation.

In preparing for the Olympic trials, the El Monte resident says the best thing she can do is "stay consistent, and mentally stable" when competing in the pre-tournaments that establish national rankings. "I've always said that with any trial process, everyone starts with zero," Dykman says. "You just have to go in and do your job: shoot your arrows and keep your form. I think there will be more pressure at the Olympic trials, but I feel good about it."

Dykman has been able to maintain a fifth national ranking despite surgery last November that made it difficult to train consistently, she says. In addition to being a member of the U.S. Olympic team for Games in Atlanta and Sydney, Dykman has received the prestigious Shenk Award (awarded to the male and female archer in the Olympic Bow Division with the highest cumulative scores in the U.S. Indoor, Field and Target Championships for that year), and has earned six gold medals in four Pan American Games.

Dykman says she loves the sport so much that "I sometimes ask myself whether I should be doing other things, instead, but people have always encouraged me to go on." Among her objectives — besides the immediate goal of winning a ticket to the 2004 Games in Athens — is to return to CMC in the fall on a regular basis, and put together a team to compete in the National Collegiate tournament.

"Working with Janet twice a week for the past two years has been great," Town says. "She is such a great resource for our students. Janet's enthusiasm has stimulated the interest of all our students, but in particular, for some of our first-semester students. They have gone to the next level by entering some of the local tournaments in Southern California."

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Olympic archer Janet Dykman