College Station is on the map when it comes to the Olympic Archery scene. Texas A&M’s Archery team is a program with a winning history. A&M will present the first leg of the Olympic qualifiers in the fall. In the meantime, the Aggies look to capture their 13th national title.
A&M is best known for an impressive streak of 11 consecutive national titles from 1996-2006, and 2010 brought the Aggies another national title.
Junior Jennifer Nichols shot on the Olympic team in 2004 in Athens. Victor Wunderlee, class of 2002, also has participated in the Olympics. The Aggies boast seven current All-Americans in addition to Olympian athletes.
Archers compete in indoor and outdoor settings. Outdoor archers shoot from 70 meters away, as opposed to indoor archers, who aim at a target from 18 meters. There are two types of bows in the sport: the recurve bow, which is used by Olympians, and the compound bow. Male and female teams of three are divided into each bow type.
Sophomores Adam Gallant and Adam Wruck were placed on the Male Compound All-American Team. Senior Bobby Jones is a Male Recurve All-American. Selected as female Recurve All-Americans were juniors Jennifer Nichols and Amanda Nichols, and seniors Lyndsey Marzec and Ceili Vanderhill. Seven Aggies earned this distinction out of 40 archers in the nation, as 10 All-Americans in each category are selected.
The Aggies are fortunate to have experienced archers who have been involved in the Olympic scene.
After receiving a bow for Christmas at age 12, Nichols developed a dream for one day shooting in the Olympics. She has enjoyed shooting under experienced and proven coaches, including Coach Frank Thomas, who has experience coaching the USA Olympic Team.
“Texas A&M has an archery coaching staff that is actively involved in the sport at the National and International level, having experience as both National archery coaches and competitive athletes. Our coaches…provide enthusiastic motivation, professional instruction, and unfailing support to the members of the A&M archery team,” Jennifer Nichols said.
Coach Thomas was tutored by former Olympic coaches, who helped him reach his current coaching status. He and Nichols feel blessed to be surrounded by the experience and talent they team up with.
“[Coaches] Bill [Coady] and Lorinda [Cohen] put in a tremendous amount of work,” Thomas said.
As the Aggies look to capture yet another national championship, they will benefit from a new rule allowing fifth year eligibility, as all seven All-Americans are able to return.
“I hope to see our team experience the same success in 2011 that we did in 2010 when we took home many medals and the overall Top Team Award from the Collegiate National Championship,” Jennifer Nichols said. “The team has more experience building off last season and even greater enthusiasm with our new team members.”
Students won’t have to travel far to get involved. A&M will present the South Regional Nationals February 25-27. In addition, the first leg of the Olympics will take place here. These rounds determine the Olympic team, as the top 16 participants are selected.
Students can enjoy top-notch archery facilities.
“A great advantage we have at A&M is the ideal training facilities available to the team for training at our outdoor field at Penberthy and our indoor range at the Rec Center,” Nichols said.
Archery team members are recruited by out of state scholarships, archers who have grown up shooting, and some are pulled from the archery classes offered at A&M. Cohen noted how the sport differentiates itself.
“It is a sport you can do your whole life,” Cohen said. “There are people that compete at age six and some when they are in their 80’s, so there really isn’t a set time line for a person’s career.”