The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

LCC archers aiming high nationally



THE LETCHER COUNTY COUGARS Archery Team was ranked number one in the nation over the weekend and now stands at number two in state qualifier tournaments in the National Archery in Schools Program. The LCCHS team members are: Ariana Bailey, Kenzie Adams, Grace Caudill, Keegan Jones, Morgan Branham, Connor DeRose, Emily Thornsberry, Ayden Shelby, Walker Isaacs, Kara Stone, Jonah Stidham, Lila Stines, Maddox Adams, Abby Bentley, Ashley Burke, Jaycee Kincer, Addy Allman, Ashton Adams, Jackson Adams, April Baker, Allison Boggs, Colton Caudill, Paige Caudill, Madison Cook, Tyler Crabtree, Holly Fields, Hunter Fields, Roy Fields, Kevin Johnson, Liam Miles, Kyla Raglin, Ivy Scheeler, Story Scheeler, Keyara Shepherd, Andrew Smith, Graclyn Stallard, Gracie Stewart, Noah Triplett and Kylie Williams. Coaches are: Head Coach Mikey Sexton, Ed Bentley, Austin Eversole, Justin Adams and Randy Bailey.

THE LETCHER COUNTY COUGARS Archery Team was ranked number one in the nation over the weekend and now stands at number two in state qualifier tournaments in the National Archery in Schools Program. The LCCHS team members are: Ariana Bailey, Kenzie Adams, Grace Caudill, Keegan Jones, Morgan Branham, Connor DeRose, Emily Thornsberry, Ayden Shelby, Walker Isaacs, Kara Stone, Jonah Stidham, Lila Stines, Maddox Adams, Abby Bentley, Ashley Burke, Jaycee Kincer, Addy Allman, Ashton Adams, Jackson Adams, April Baker, Allison Boggs, Colton Caudill, Paige Caudill, Madison Cook, Tyler Crabtree, Holly Fields, Hunter Fields, Roy Fields, Kevin Johnson, Liam Miles, Kyla Raglin, Ivy Scheeler, Story Scheeler, Keyara Shepherd, Andrew Smith, Graclyn Stallard, Gracie Stewart, Noah Triplett and Kylie Williams. Coaches are: Head Coach Mikey Sexton, Ed Bentley, Austin Eversole, Justin Adams and Randy Bailey.

One Letcher County Central High School team is sitting at Number 2 in the nation in its sport this week.

It doesn’t kick a ball, hit a ball, throw a ball, or even use a ball.

It fires arrows.

Coach Mikey Sexton cautioned archers Saturday that it is still early in the season, but he told them Cougars Archery was then the highest-ranking team in state qualifying tournaments in the nation. It reached the ranking over the weekend when it hosted its Winter Shootout at the Fleming-Neon Elementary School gymnasium. It dropped to the number two spot later when Arlington Martin High School in Texas took over the number one spot.

“There are a couple of teams that are higher, but they’ve not shot in any state qualifying tournaments,” Sexton said Monday.

Archery is part of the National Archery in Schools Program, and operates a little differently from most sports. Rather than tryouts, any student can join the team. Tournaments are scored using each team’s top 12 scores. Each archer can score up to 300 points in a tournament, so the team’s total score can be as high as 3,600 if every one of the top 12 archers shoots a perfect match.

“Can” is the operative word here. While 300 points is possible, it’s very rare.

“I’ve not had any on my team, there have been people do it,” Sexton said.

Letcher Central’s score on Saturday was 3,369, or an average of 280. The top score, shot by Colton Caudill, was 296. Ashley Burke had the highest score on the team among girls with a 288.

“The thing about archery is, you don’t have to be the most athletic person to participate. Anybody can participate, and archery is more mental than anything. It takes a lot of mental self-control and a lot of repetition to make sure you’re doing the same thing over and over,” Sexton said.

Austin Eversole was a freshman when he joined the first Cougars Archery team in early spring of 2011. He shot for four years, watched his sister shoot for four years, and has now been an assistant coach for four years. Eversole said he already enjoyed archery when he joined the team, but previous experience is not a necessity to be competitive.

“It’s probably the most inclusive sport there is, because you can come in not knowing anything and become good at it if you’re willing to put in some work,” he said.

Unlike other sports, there is no impartial scorekeeper. Each archer scores the arrows of the person shooting beside them. They cannot touch the arrows, and if they disagree on a score, a referee checks the arrows and makes the final decision on which side of the line the arrow is.

The adult tournaments many people may be familiar with are much different than NASP tournaments. In many of the adult tournaments, who does the best comes down to who has the most modern and most expensive equipment. NASP requires everyone to use identical equipment.

“Basically, they all have to use a Matthews Genesis bow, so they’re all the same exact bow, they have to use the same arrows, which is the Easton 1820 arrow, and they will shoot five shot in each round. They have three rounds at 10 meters and three rounds at 15 meters,” Sexton explained.

Sights are not allowed. Every archer has to shoot on instinct, using muscle memory to place the arrows in the same spot time after time.

With the ranking so high this year, Sexton has high hopes that the team will qualify for the Eastern Nationals which will be held May 11-13 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville. The Western Nationals are two weeks earlier in Sandy, Utah. The NASP Open and Championship will be June 23-25, also in Louisville.

Sexton is casual about the team’s history in the Nationals, saying they’ve gone “seven or eight times.” The team has competed in the World Championship three times.

The team is currently raising money to compete in upcoming tournaments to qualify for the state tournament and the Nationals.

Leave a Reply