Archery Club Finds Success at Two Competitions

By Sonja Hess

The Wilson College Archery Club participated in two competitions this semester.  On March 13, members competed in the PSAA South Central Regional Archery Competition at the York-Adams Fish and Game Club in Abbottstown, Pa.  Archers Brittany Sanocki ‘15, Sonja Hess ‘15, Elizabeth Hauck ‘17, and Tayrn Clopton ‘16 attended the competition with their recurve style bows.  Hess earned gold in individual women’s recurve with a score of 291 in 60 arrows, followed by Hauck who earned silver with a score of 259.

The Wilson College Archery Club shoots recurve style bows, which are classified as a type of traditional archery bows.  Club members compete in the PSAA FITA barebow category, which does not allow archers to use any form of sights, releases, cams (wheels used to “let off” the draw weight on a bow), balancing equipment, or kissers/clickers to aid in their shooting.  This forces the archer to focus on how their body interacts with the bow and replicate each shoot as closely as possible for greater accuracy.  Most archers use compound bows which are permitted to have the extra aids, but many people still shoot traditional recurve or long bow archery because it is more challenging without the aids.

On April 11 and 12 the four aforementioned archers along with Danielle Zona ‘18 attended the PSAA State Archery Competition at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA.  The five competed as a team and the top four collectively scored 1612 points over the two days.  Last year Wilson College topped the PSAA state team recurve record with a score of 2217, however that record was broken by The Archery Zone with a score of 3196 this year.  Hess earned bronze in individual women’s recurve with a score of 609 at the state competition.

Odrun Stevens coaches the archery club competitors and is also the advisor for the club, which meets every Friday and Sunday at 6:30 pm in the field house, and is open to all members of the Wilson community, regardless of skill level or desire to compete.  All equipment is generously provided, stored, and maintained by Stevens and his wife, Connie.

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