Pennsylvania College of Technology claimed two first-place finishes during last weekend's Eastern Indoor Regional Archery Championships and picked up valuable points that eventually could lead to All-American status for some of its archers.
Michelle Wright (Kendall, N.Y.) captured the women's individual compound title, and Wright, Beth Robinson (Williamsport) and Karen Morse (Canton) combined for the women's team compound championship.
Other top finishes for Penn College came in the men's and mixed compound team categories, where the Wildcats finished second to tournament host James Madison University.
Competing on the men's compound squad were Ryan Romberger (Pillow), Ryan Benny (Burnham) and Steve Liehr (Oakford). On the mixed squad were Romberger, Benny, Wright and Robinson.
Also for Penn College, Robinson was third and Morse sixth in women's individual compound, Benny sixth and Romberger seventh in men's individual compound and Jason Kornbau (Red Lion) 13th in men's individual recurve. The Wildcat men's recurve team was fourth, its highest finish ever.
"Finishing first was a great accomplishment for Michelle. The women's compound team shot excellent. By the looks of some of the other scores, I think they're going to be ranked second in the country, only by a few points, so I think they could take the whole national title this year," said Chad Karstetter, Penn College coach.
Now, the team's focus goes from indoor competition to the outdoors.
"Everybody's looking forward to going outside. With the scores that we've shot so far at regionals, everybody is within a few points of the leaders," Karstetter said. "They're looking forward to going outside because it seems like we excel outdoors a little bit more than some people do. They're looking forward to making up some points now."
Points accumulated at the indoor regional event will be added to upcoming outdoor events at the Eastern Region April 22-24 being hosted by Penn College and the season-ending outdoor championships May 19-22 at Milledgeville, Ga., to determine All-Americans.