Written by Carly Kester
Seventeen Harding students participated in the archery competition to show off their shooting skills. Out of all the contenders, freshman Seb Sanders proved he was the most qualified to win the archery sports skill title.
The archery competition is a yearly event and is part of the intramural sports skills activities, one-day events in which any Harding student may enter a specific competition to test his or her skills in an area.
Competitors have 24 arrows and must hit targets from 20 yards away. The score depends on the color of the target the players hit, with the maximum score being 216. Sanders scored 156 points.
Director of men’s intramurals Jim Gowen said archery is one of the most popular intramural competitions.
“Anybody who wants to come over here and compete, comes over and competes,” Gowen said.
In order to make the competition fair, archers must use the bows, arrows and targets provided by the intramural program. The bows used for the competitiondo not have sights or arrow rests, so competitors must rely on their own judgment and intuition.
“We try to make [the competition] as even as possible,” Gowen said.”We’ve had some guys come over with compound bows with sights, and all the things the avid archer would have. Of course, that wouldn’t be fair for the guy who comes over and wants to shoot one day just to see how it is.”
Sanders said not being able to use his own equipment was difficult to get used to.
“I just had to go by instinct and sight,” Sanders said. “It was different than what I’m used to.It took me a minute to get that sight down, but once I got it, it was pretty easy after that.”
Sanders said his dad taught him how to shoot a bow at a young age, and he has practiced hunting with a bow ever since. In fact, Sanders said the archery competition at Harding was the first one he’s ever been in.
“I was surprised [I won],”Sanders said. “I wasn’t even going to do it, and then one of my friends asked me to go and I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll go,’ and I went and started shooting, and it turned out that I got a pretty good score.”
Harding used to offer an archery class that counted toward activity credit, but the class was discontinued, according to Gowen.
“We are the only archery competition on campus of any kind, and it’s just that one day,” Gowen said.
Sanders said he was not sure whether he would compete again, but if he did, he would try to hold onto his title as champion.
The archery competition is usually held at the end of March or the beginning of April, and no registration is required. For more information on intramural sports, visit http://www.harding. edu/intramurals.
