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By Brian O’Shea, Plateau Daily News
Summit School hosted their first home archery meet, Archery on the Summit, on Jan. 20 and the entire team qualified for North Carolina State Bullseye Tournament in Winston-Salem to be held on Feb. 16-17.
The first ever archery meet held at Summit on Jan. 20.
“This is a huge honor,” said Summit Archery Coach Orlando Buck. “This is the first year the State of North Carolina has had a qualifier for archers to make it to the State tournament and we did it!”
Archery on the Summit was the third meet held this year and included 135 archers from 6 schools competing. Several Summit archers scored in the top 10 of their division.
Summit Archery Coach Orlando Buck chats with the team during a break.
Summit Zoe Zimmer (8th Grade) took 1st Place for middle school girls with a score of 281. Summit Chevis Mathis (7th Grade) took 1st Place for middle school boys with a score of 277. Summit Keira Mathis (11th Grade) came in 9th Place for high school girls.
Summit shooters from left are Noah Wike and Andi Wike.
Summit Koen Dittrich (5th Grade) came in 5th for elementary boys. Summit Avery Brown (5th Grade) came in 9th Place for elementary girls.
Summit archers range from 4th to 11th grade, but they are all competing at a high school level.
Summit Chevis Mathis takes aim.
“We qualified for State as a high school team, so my elementary and middle school archers’ scores qualified us as a high school team,” said Buck. “We don’t have enough members for a team in any single division, so our archers can ‘play up,’ which we did. As a high school team, we are 6th in the State of North Carolina. How’s that for shooting!”
It’s not as easy as it looks to pull arrows out of a target as Summit Payton Wike demonstrates.
COVID halted the initial plans to create an archery team at Summit during the 2019-20 school year. Once distancing restrictions loosened up, Buck gauged interest from students and after a grant from the NC Wildlife Resources Commission and local donations, the program officially began.
Summit Koen Dittrich locks onto the target.
“I am very proud of how far Summit archers have come in the 2.5 years we’ve had the program,” said Buck. “Summit archers had to learn everything from scratch because we had no history of shooting before. We spent weeks using strings as ‘bows’ as we learned the 11 Steps to Archery Success. Putting a bow and arrow in the hands of our archers the first time was, well, a little nerve wracking – would they shoot the walls, the floors…someone else? Archery is a very safe and fun sport and our archers are living proof.”
Summit shooters from left are Avery brown and Wyatt Bonner as they get set to shoot.
Buck added that archery is a sport anyone can participate in.
One of numerous safety precautions taken throughout the tournament, after each flight, archers placed their bows on racks. Pictured from left are Summit shooters Zoe Zimmer and Jacob Marquina.
“We have students who have progressed from the basics of archery to using multi-point anchors, advanced nocking and grip techniques, as well as advanced aiming techniques,” said Buck. “Some archers have purchased their own bows, arrows, and targets so they can practice at home. Archery is a sport anyone can do, no matter their skill level.”
Summit Kendalyn Buck takes aim.
Summit Kiera Mathis reaches to nock another arrow. Also pictured at the top of the article.
Summit Cayla Zimmer is the last to finish shooting and stays focused on the target.
Summit Kendalyn Buck recovers her arrows from the target.
Summit shooters from left are Otto Dittrich and Koen Dittrich.
Summit Avery Brown takes aim at the target.
Summit Chevis Mathis gets set to shoot.
Summit Zoe Zimmer fires off a shot.
Summit Jacob Marquina takes aim.
Summit Andi Wike locks onto her target.