Penn College Hosts Eastern Regional Archery Event This Weekend

Published 04.22.2008

News
Athletics

This weekend, members of the Pennsylvania College of Technology archery team get their final tune-up prior to next month's season-ending nationals, and it will come on their home turf.



The Wildcats host the Eastern Regional Intercollegiate Championships Saturday and Sunday on campus, just outside the Field House along College Avenue.

"So far this season, all of our teams have been doing well. The men's compound team has won all of the events we've gone to, except the Virginia State Indoors," said coach Chad Karstetter. "In this meet, hopefully, if they can shoot as good as they have been shooting they should come out on top."

Competition will begin with practice at noon on Saturday. Ranking rounds in four classes men's and women's compound and men's and women's recurve will follow between 1 and 5 p.m. Based on how they shoot Saturday, the 60 archers from eight colleges will go into individual head-to-head elimination rounds starting at 9 a.m. Sunday. That will be followed by team rounds, with the tourney expected to wrap up between 1 and 2 p.m.

Representing Penn College will be Dan Wido (freshman/Shickshinny), Zach Plannick (freshman/Coraopolis), Brock Smith (junior/Brookville), Brad Ferguson (sophomore/Lewistown) and Aaron Lipinski (freshman/Scranton) in men's compound; James Fanelli (sophomore/Glastonburg, Conn.), Tyler Gale (freshman/Kennedyville, Md.) and Martin Smith (junior/Brookville) in men's recurve; Lindsey Fackler (junior/Halifax), Sarah Wilson (senior/Tyrone) and Sarah Pierson (freshman/Eldred) in women's compound; and Rebecca Deist (freshman/Manheim) in women's recurve.

Also entered are archers from Penn State, James Madison, Atlantic Cape Community College, Columbia, Manhattan, Alvernia and Westminster.

"We've been outside shooting and everybody is fine-tuning," Karstetter said, but he pointed out that weather could be a factor. "We're all praying for good weather Saturday and Sunday," Karstetter said. "When you're shooting such long distances (up to 70 meters), and the weight of the arrow isn't very heavy, they can blow left to right a foot in just a light wind.

"The wind and rain take a toll on scores, but the one good thing is that everybody has got to shoot at the same time, so no one person benefits over the other. It takes a lot of knowing your equipment and predicting what the wind is going to be doing," the coach continued. "(Earlier this season) at the James Madison Invitational, the weather on Saturday was beautiful but the weather on Sunday was awful, and actually, most of our guys shot better in the bad weather than they did in the nice weather. That could be a coincidence, or it could be because when we practice the wind never stops blowing at Penn College," Karstetter added.

(Complete rosters and season schedules are available on the college's athletics Web site .)