ARGYLE — Scot McClure sat on a rail outside his classroom at Argyle High School and never lost his smile as his legs swung back and forth for more than 10 minutes.
He has many reasons to be happy.
DRC/Barron Ludlum
Argyle archers Zach Young and David Hagler practice before heading to the nationals in Louisville, Ky., where 5,000 thousand students from across the country will be competing next weekend.
• He has instantly become a pioneer coach in the sport of indoor archery in North Texas.
• In three years he has built a strong team at Argyle.
• For the second consecutive year, he is leading a group of high-school and middle-school archers to the national tournament in Kentucky.
But McClure will be the first to say that he is happiest for one big reason — anyone who wants to compete in archery can if they want to. And he will gladly teach them.
At this level, in the sport of archery, male or female, small or large, anyone gets a chance.
“This the universal equalizer sport,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who you are, your social status, your athletic ability, your height or your strength. Everybody shoots the same equipment. So you can be 6-foot-6 or 4-feet-11 and still win. Anyone can do this.”
McClure has been able to find a group of kids who do it well.
His team will represent Texas as the two-time defending state champions in all classes in the national archery tournament today and Saturday in Louisville, Ky.
What is most impressive is McClure’s team is full of underclassmen. His top boys competitor, Braydin Clark, was named the top male archer in the state at February’s state meet.
He is only a freshman.
Argyle’s top girls archer, Hope Washburn, earned the honor as the top female archer in the state. She is only in eighth grade.
“We are young and we are only going to get better,” McClure said.
Washburn is in her first year of competition. She can’t compete at the high school level at nationals, but is expected to be one of the top archers in the nation at the middle-school level.
“My brother was a state champ last year and he said archery was pretty cool,” Washburn said. “So I wanted to win state also. Now I just want to try my hardest.”
McClure is becoming a big fan of his young rising star.
“She is a girl that had never been involved in sports or extracurricular activities, and this is her deal that provides her with great self-esteem and great confidence,” he said. “She is recognized by her peers as the best archer in the state of Texas. She loves it.”
Argyle will send 20 archers at the high-school level and 17 more on the middle-school stage to aim at the bulls-eye this weekend. The Eagles will be competing against 5,000 other archers from all 50 states. It is the biggest archery tournament in United States history.
“The competition is extremely tough,” McClure said. “But the experience is extremely great.”
Last year, the Eagles finished 41st out of the 48 schools at the national meet. McClure hopes this year Argyle can climb the ladder in the ranks.
“I am aiming for a top-20 finish,” he said. “A top-20 finish would be great.”
The scoring of the competition is simple.
There will be 170 targets set up at one time, with two archers per target during 12 different time slots. Archers will shoot 15 times at 10 meters, and 15 times at 15 meters for a total of 30 shots.
Each bulls-eye is worth 10 points, which means the highest possible individual score is 300. Judges will take the top 12 scores from each team to determine the team champion.
“The winning score at nationals will be about a 298 for the top individual,” he said. “We will shoot about a 275. So we are 20 arrows short.”
Argyle archer David Hagler, who finished second at the state meet, said he does not know what to expect when he aims in Louisville.
“I don’t really know what the competition is like but I know they take it a lot more seriously up north,” said Hagler, who said he fell in love with archery while hunting outdoors with a bow. “So I want to do the best I can and try and get a good standing.”
When the program began in 2007, McClure had 15 archers. Last year he had 28. This year he has 48.
“It is going to continue to grow,” he said. “In a few years we will be able to be really competitive at the national level. We hope to be in the top three. We hope to bring the title to Texas.”
Next year he wants to open the curriculum to all students in Argyle ISD. Kids will get a chance to learn archery beginning as early as kindergarten.
“Every student will have an opportunity to shoot archery,” he said. “Kids will be able to shoot all they want.”
And that is what makes McClure smile more than anything.
MATTHEW MUENCH can be reached at 940-566-6869. His e-mail address is mmuench@dentonrc.com .
