UK Student Archery Association

Napier deny Edinburgh SSS sweep [15/Mar/17]

This is a catch up article reviewing SSS match 5 and the Indoor Champs. SSS match 5 took place on 18th March. It is the first time that SSS has had a fifth league fixture, with the SSS Indoor Championships still taking place, but not included in the league standings. Since then a fair few things have happened, not least BUTC and Lancaster, Birmingham and London all being confirmed as the champions in NEUAL, BUTTS and SEAL.

In SSS 5, Napier beat their city rivals Edinburgh, scoring 2205 against 2181, with St Andrews in third a further hundred points behind. This is Napier's senior SSS win since the league structure was changed to an all vs all format in 2011. It also brought to an end Edinburgh's run of eight consecutive SSS wins. Kayleigh Ivanov and Andreas Nicolaou (both Napier) hit matching 564s, whilst Neringa Siugzdinyte and Johanna Meyer (both Edinburgh) were at either end of the 560s. Roughly 100 points behind Edinburgh, in third place were St Andrews on 2077, followed by Aberdeen in fouth on 2033 with Jordan Wilson (Aberdeen) contributing 568.

The result means the Edinburgh finished the SSS league season on 74 out of a possible 75 points (four 1sts and one 2nd). Napier were second on 71 points (four 2nds and one 1st). Aberdeen were third in the final table with 61 points, whilst a 3rd-3rd finish from St Andrews saw them jump up from seventh to fourth place overall on 55. New club Abertay finished 8th out of 9 full teams.

Aberdeen won SSS novice match 5, just pipping Edinburgh and meaning Edinburgh's novices match their seniors' league points tally. David Prato (Edinburgh) was the fixture's top scoring novice on 535. The team result is all the more surprising when you consider that Aberdeen move up to 7th out of 9 teams as a result. Heriot-Watt finished second in the novice table with 67 points, with Napier in third, but well behind on 57.

At SSS Indoors (on 25th March) a fuller strength Edinburgh team took total command with a score of 2271. Guy Matzkin and Neringa Siugzdinyte (both Edinburgh) shot 572 and 570 as Edinburgh's winning margin threatened to spill in to 3 digits. Napier were unable to repeat their feat of seven days previously, but still scored 2178 to take silver. St Andrews improved end of season form continued with a score of exactly 2100 in third place, whilst Aberdeen pipped Dundee to fourth, both teams in the 2040s. Kayleigh Ivanov (Napier) and Lisa Kompfner (Edinburgh) hit matching 565s, with Johanna Meyer (Edinburgh) one behind. Also breaking 560 were Jordan Wilson (Aberdeen) and Douglas Jardine (Borders).

Edinburgh wrapped up the SSS Indoors novice title. Their team tally was an impressive 1618 (the All Unis record is 1638) and was led home by Josh Croall who amassed 563 - enogh to break the existing All Unis record by 2 points. The nearest competition was Aberdeen on 1470 and Heriot-Watt on 1404.

These matches pre-date BUTC at which only Edinburgh (bronze medals and Round of 16) and Napier (Round of 16) participated.

SSS not only added a fifth league match to its program, but also instituted the first ever regional compound league this season. The experiment saw 7 of the clubs field some compounds during the season. Only Strathclyde fielding 2 compounds in every match however, so unsurprisingly they won the compound league. SSS gave an award to the top scoring recurve across the 5 matches, using an E-League style system. Andreas Nicolaou (Napier) was the winner, with Jordan Wilson (Aberdeen) second and Neringa Siugzdinyte (Edinburgh) in third.