SUMMIT — Looking back, members of the Boyd County Middle School archery team say it is interesting to see how far they’ve come since the early days when they were “excited just to be shooting.”

With a recent second-place finish in state competition, many of their individual scores now challenge those recorded by some of the best student archers across the nation. As a team, the Boyd County Middle School archers scored 3,273 points at the competition, rivaled only by the shooters from Henderson County South who scored 3,300.

Practice, each archer and their coaches say, is the key to accuracy.

“I was absolutely awful when I first started,” said eighth-grade student Emmalynn Edmonds, who first set an arrow to a bow as a fifth-grader at Camp Webb. “Now, I usually do pretty good.”

Seventh-grade student Sammy Smith was among the best at state, earning 279 points and fourth place in her division only after a tie and shoot-off with two other girls. Smith now tries to shoot daily, perhaps making up for a missed opportunity to get involved a year earlier.

“The first day of sixth grade I made my mom hurry to turn in my permission slip,” she said with a smile, adding she was the first to sign up that year. Smith is also planning a groundhog bow hunting excursion during the next season.

The school’s top male archer, with 282 points in state competition, eighth-grade student Cody Smith, begrudgingly agreed with the other guys on the team who will tell you the girls are as good, if not better, than they are. He is also quick to point out the score sheet, which shows he, as well as Remington Jarrell with 275 points and Zach Wells with 274 points, were at the top of the team’s score list.

Cody Smith, who competed in the Bluegrass Games and received first- and third-place honors during his first year as an archer, said he got into archery when a friend told him about the school’s team.

“I went from 15th to second in my first year. I just practiced a lot,” he said, citing his enthusiasm for the sport. “I just really like it. It’s just fun for me.”

Eighth-grade student Rees Riffe said he has been interested in archery since he purchased a “cheap bow” and tied for second place in his first competition. He has also developed an interest in bow hunting.

“His family didn’t like bow hunting,” Coach Daryl Short said, explaining they are avid marksmen who have embraced archery. “Now they can’t wait for bow season.”

Scott Jarrell said archery has provided an opportunity for quality time spent with his son, Remington, in their backyard archery range.

“When it comes crunch time dad starts pushing,” Scott Jarrell said, explaining he and his son especially concentrate on weak points in his shooting prior to tournaments. “It’s just great time together.”

Coaches Anita Smith and Short said they aspire to put a bow and arrows into the hands of any interested student and to provide entire families a chance to practice archery together.

“Any kid, regardless of ability, can stay and shoot,” Anita Smith said, explaining they reserve only Friday and Saturday practice sessions for the competitive team, with all other sessions open to everyone.

Both coaches said the attention to equal equipment and rules applied to competitive archery keep the sport focused on the students and prevent unfair advantage for schools or students with more available funding.

Short said he isn’t surprised female students are particularly competitive in archery, citing a willingness to use the bow’s variable force.

“The girls pay more attention,” Short said with a grin, explaining boys tend to always pull their bowstrings to full force for every shot while girls “use the range of their bow tension.”

While the team has the essentials, Anita Smith and Short said they “are always fundraising” and sincerely appreciate support from the community, especially as they work to develop a new outdoor archery range on land near the school contributed through the Boyd County Fiscal Court. Anyone who wants to contribute to the effort may call Boyd County Middle School Principal Bill Boblett at (606) 928-9547.

TIM PRESTON can be reached at tpreston@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2651.