Midland Valley junior leads team with win at archery tournament

When Midland Valley High junior Andrew Atkinson arrived with his FFA teammates at the World NASP Archery Tournament in Orlando, he wasn't fazed by the spectacle of the ESPN Center in Disney World Complex.

"I didn't really feel any pressure," Atkinson said Monday. "I was thinking I wouldn't do that good."

He was wrong - very, very wrong. Atkinson hit the bull's-eye 26 times in 30 shots for a score of 293 out of a possible 300 points to take first place in the high school division.

He finished third place overall out of about 1,000 shooters, just one point behind two other students.

"You get 30 shots, and that's it," said agriculture science teacher and FFA advisor Jeremy Brooks. "They had to replace the target, because Andrew completely shot the center out of it."

The Midland Valley team took a first place at the state tournament in March, qualifying for the national meet. The event brought shooters from throughout the U.S., as well as athletes from Canada, South Africa and New Zealand.

Brooks took 12 team members to the international competition. Three were brand new, as three seniors who competed in the spring - including Atkinson's brother and team captain Aaron - graduated in June.

Still, they did just fine as a group, with five finishing among the top 50 and the team taking eighth place overall. That was especially impressive because one shooter could not participate because of an injured shoulder.

The other team members include John Redmond, Laurna Jackson, Holly Timblin, James Toole, Ahrens Dederscheck, Tina Kovacs, Katelyn Montgomery, Devon Puckett, Lauren Overstreet, Aaron Floyd and Tyler Lanier.

Brooks started the archery program through FFA in 2008 because of the number of bow hunters in the Valley area. Atkinson's parents, Lenny and Karla Atkinson, have been the top sponsors of the program through their business, Hootie's Outdoors, a hunting and fishing supply shop. They have a 20-foot archery range inside the store.

It's truly a family affair with the Atkinsons. Andrew's younger sister, Lindsay, is a freshman FFA member and will try out for the archery squad in November.

"I didn't anticipate anything like this, not this quick," Brooks said of the team's success. "Our students just work hard and enjoy it."

About five years ago, Andrew Atkinson practiced at the archery range and did a lot of bow-hunting. When the FFA program started, he got really interested in the competitive archery. At the international event, he participated in three rounds of five shots each from 10 meters and three additional rounds at 15 meters.

"It's just about concentration," Atkinson said. "I zone out everything else and set my mind to the target. I want to keep going with this. It was like winning the Super Bowl. It was great and exciting and a big surprise."

"He has done really well," Brooks added. "We got a lot of archery trophies and half are Andrew's."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.