Archery Team Targets Growth at Mississippi College

Image provided by the US Collegiate Archery Association

Bows and arrows are in good hands at Mississippi College.

This fall, MC students launched the state’s first collegiate archery team with help coming from the new squad’s seasoned coach, Waldo Cleland.

A Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks official, Cleland is a four-time national archery champion. The Columbus, Mississippi native is a one-time world champ (in 1995) and his expertise with the sport will be a strength as the MC Choctaws’ team gets off the ground.

Cleland serves as the state agency’s coordinator of archery and bowhunting. He’s been shooting bows and arrows ever since the Mississippian can remember. He’s won over 30 state titles. “It’s been a passion for all of my life.”

Practice started in September for the Mississippi College students at LeFleur’s Bluff State Park in Jackson, “and we’ve got some crackerjacks,” Cleland says. “We will rank nationally soon.”

Mississippi College’s squad will compete in the U.S. Collegiate Archery Association’s Southern Division against potent teams like Texas A&M, the University of Florida, and Georgia Southern. Mississippi State University is also starting a team on the Starkville campus and will soon be an in-state rival for the Choctaws.

Collegiate archery is booming on campuses around the nation. Schools like Missouri, Arizona, Purdue, Penn State, Michigan State, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and the University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky field archery teams.

This spring, Mississippi College plans to host an archery showcase in the A.E. Wood Coliseum on the Clinton campus. The public is invited.

Archery is the latest MC sport under the umbrella of Jim Turcotte, vice president for enrollment services and dean of students. He also oversees the university’s equestrian team, bass fishing and clay shooting squads. Archery isn’t something that students will take up for a few years and then toss their bows and arrows into storage, “This is a lifelong sport,” Turcotte says.

Ranking behind such traditional American sports as football and baseball, archery is among the biggest in popularity at high schools across the Magnolia State. There are nearly 53,000 student archers at 426 schools in Mississippi, Cleland says. Some are as young as elementary school youngsters. Pearl High, Clinton Christian Academy, Brandon High, Ridgeland High and Jackson Academy are among the area schools with archery teams.

With guidance from Coach Cleland, and thousands of high school students sharpening their skills, MC’s archery team targets success for years to come, Turcotte says. “We will be so blessed. Waldo Cleland is a strong Christian man.”

It takes a dozen MC students to form an archery team and they will compete in their first national tournament in the Spring of 2015. Parker Battista, 20, of Tallmadge, Ohio is among the first Mississippi College students joining the squad.

“I grew up in an outdoors family that enjoyed archery and bowhunting growing up, so it’s always been a part of my life,” Battista says. “Archery is great because anyone can do it, at any age. It’s fun and a great stress reliever.”

The business major is the first president of the Mississippi College archery club.

After a long day of classes and hitting the books, “there’s just something about watching that arrow fly through the air and hit your target,” Parker says. “I can’t tell you how excited I am about this coming year and the archery team.”

Students should receive their archery uniforms in a few weeks.

This fall’s birth of MC’s archery team, Turcotte says, signals the start of a solid partnership between the Baptist-affiliated university and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks.

For more information, contact Jim Turcotte at 601-925-3315 or turcotte@mc.edu.