The Owensboro Archery Club achieved unprecedented success this year, sweeping the state and national championships in all three disciplines of Scholastic 3D Archery. Coach Nathan Hunt said while they knew there was a lot of potential, the team’s chemistry helped them exceed expectations.
OAC has been in existence for more than 10 years now and competes in the national S3DA program. S3DA has three age divisions — Eagle, Youth, and Young Adult — that essentially equate to elementary, middle, and high school levels.
S3DA consists of three disciplines that take place throughout the year. The winter season is for indoor competition, the spring season is for 3D competition shooting at foam targets that represent animals, and the summer season is for outdoor targets at a long distance in a field setting.
There are state and national championships for all three disciplines, all of which the OAC Young Adult team won.
“They swept every possible tournament that they could win this year, which is an incredible feat,” Hunt said. “To my knowledge, that has never been done. And in doing so, they also shattered several scoring records along the way. Not only did they win, they won in dominating fashion.”
Team scores are made up of the five best individual scores at each competition.
“Everybody on the team contributed,” Hunt said. “It’s not one individual person that wins these things. Five kiddos have to have a great weekend. Everybody contributed at the right times to make this happen.”
Hunt said the team did expect to have a successful season, but to run away with the titles was a bit of a shock.
“This group had won prior national titles and individual divisions, but never this dominating,” he said. “We’ve always had the ability to compete well, and we’ve done so having won a handful of national titles over the past 5-6 years.”
With four graduating seniors and a slew of other long-time members, Hunt said team chemistry and dedication were key this season.
“We had a lot of tenure with having four seniors, but also this group of individuals has competed with each other. They’ve been great friends and competitors for several years, dating all the way back to their Eagle days starting in elementary school,” he said. “These kids have a lot of history together. They obviously bond well together and encourage each other, and I think that was a key to our success this year.”
Hunt said while contributions came from several members, he wanted to give a special shoutout to Caleb Poe, who was crowned the S3DA Young Adult indoor and 3D national champion. Poe also earned the Shooter of the Year for the entire season. Poe will be attending the University of Cumberlands this fall on an archery scholarship.
“While there’s no ranking, I would argue he’s the best in the nation,” Hunt said. “He swept pretty much anything he could win from a competitive perspective.”
Hunt said attention will soon turn toward the next season. He said OAC begins enrollment around October with new archer orientation and practice.
“We’re always looking to grow the sport of archery,” he said. “Typically, our team has anywhere from 60 to 70 archers who are members of the club and compete. We’re always looking to introduce new kiddos to it, and we’d love to have more folks reach out to us here in the fall, when we start to ramp things back up again.”
Anyone interested in learning more can visit the Owensboro Archery Club Facebook Page.
