With six All-Americans and seven athletes who participated on three national championship teams last season returning, this year's Pennsylvania College of Technology archery team is, in a word: loaded.
The Wildcats begin their 10th season under coach Chad Karstetter in the annual Early Bird Sports Expo Thursday through Sunday at the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds.
"We have a lot of returnees and we kind of lucked out because they extended the eligibility from four years to five. That was a bonus because Lindsey Fackler (senior, Halifax) and Brock Smith (senior, Brookville) are back," Karstetter said.
"We may not be at the top of our game for the first event, but we should have a pretty good showing," the coach continued.
Both Fackler and Smith were All-Americans last season, along with Brad Ferguson (senior, Lewistown), Aaron Lipinski (junior, Bloomsburg), Zachary Plannick (junior, Corapolis) and Dan Wido (sophomore, Shickshinny).
Fackler, Cheryl Brooks (sophomore, Reynoldsville) and Julie Cain (sophomore, Bellefonte) were members of Penn College's national championship female compound team a year ago; Smith, James Fanelli (senior, Glastonbury, Conn.) and Glen Thomas (sophomore, Mercer) comprise the men's male recurve squad that captured a national title; and Wido, Plannick, Fackler and Brooks were members of the college's winning national mixed compound squad. Wido also was the men's compound individual national champ.
Overall, Penn College finished third in the country.
This season, Wido, Plannick, Lapinski, Ferguson and Clint Hinton (freshman, Lock Haven) will compete in the male compound division; Fanelli, Smith, Thomas, Tyler Gale (junior, Kennedyville, Md.) and Patrick Tomaszewski (freshman, Swoyersville) will compete in male recurve; Fackler, Cain and Kjirsten Radencic (freshman, Dushore) will compete in women's compound; and Brooks and Hilary Fisher (freshman, Temple) will compete in women's recurve. Two other members of the squad Kyle Bennett (freshman, Bellefonte) and Joe Dowdrick III (freshman, Lebanon) will compete in a new collegiate division: bow hunter.
"I expect another great season," Karstetter said. "We have the same caliber shooters that we had last season and we have a very good chance of exceeding what we did last year."