Oakridge archers shoot their way to nationals

Twenty-two archers from Oakridge Middle School will be giving nationals their best shot next month.

The 3-year-old Golden Eagles archery team will make its first appearance at nationals May 7-9 in Louisville, Ky. Last year, two students went, including returning shooter Alexa Roveri. She finished this year as the top eighth grade girl in the state.

“It’s huge,” Roveri said of nationals. “It’s like a lot bigger.”

At nationals, up to 450 shooters will take aim in the main room of the Kentucky Exposition Center. Rounds last 90 minutes. In all, there will be about 15,000 shooters in less than three days. All will be aiming 20-pound compound bows from 10 meters and 15 meters out at bull’s-eyes the size of silver dollars.

“It’s cool because it’s so big,” said Roveri, who picked up archery three years ago. “It’s probably times 30 the size of this gym.”

In a February regional, the team missed qualifying for state, with only the top six schools allowed to move forward. Oakridge was seventh. But state organizers had enough openings to ask Oakridge to send 14 shooters to attempt national qualification. Those shooters made the most of the second chance. Their 3,102 score sent them to Kentucky.

“It’s a lot of responsibility, but we can handle it,” said seventh-grader Isaac Crago, who was encouraged by an archery camp instructor to find a program. He wants to see how the team proves itself against top competition in the country.

Top sixth grade shooter Bella Huston joined the team this season after toying with a bow and arrow at home.

“I want to do well, but I know I’ll be able to improve,” she said.

Shooters have 2,000 to 4,000 shots under their quivers between the fall and spring nationals. They practice three days a week before school, and daily leading up to Kentucky.

“It’s difficult,” said Chris Dundr, one of three physical education teachers and team coaches at Oakridge. “It’s time consuming. It’s like anything else. To get good at it, you have to do repetition, repetition, repetition.”

There were 50 students who tried out for the 22 spots on the team in the fall. In competition, the top 12 scores count as long as they’re at least four of each gender.

Dundr, who has been at OMS since it opened six years ago, knows there are families who hunt, and he said students show up with bow skills. Others learn the concentration and focus needed for a competition that could hinge on the timing of a heartbeat or when the air conditioning unit kicks on. It’s the mix of mental and physical that appeals to archers.

“You don’t have to be the most athletic kid to be good at archery,” Dundr said. “Most sports in school settings you have to be big, fast, tall, strong – you have to be athletic to play football or basketball or volleyball.”

The team aspect is different, too. There aren’t starters, and shooters don’t ride the bench. Every archer shoots 30 times, with the best scores counting.

“A child who doesn’t shoot real well normally but shoots a 300, that score counts that day,” Dundr said. “So they understand I may not be the best shooter today in practice, but if I shoot really well in competition, I’m going to help the team out.”

Coaches look forward to the experience for their shooters. They won’t sweat results.

“When you have really dedicated kids it makes things really easy for the coaches, because they want to be here and they want to do well,” Dundr said.

This story was originally published April 17, 2015 at 12:23 PM with the headline "Oakridge archers shoot their way to nationals."