UK Student Archery Association

BUTTS blizzard of stratospheric scores [06/Mar/18]

Warwick won both BUTTS match 4 (18th Feb) and Indoor Championships (4th Mar) with Birmingham second in both. Both sides produced phenomenally high scores, with Birmingham becoming the first and then the second team to break 2300 but not win the fixture outright. In the last two seasons, the West Midlands duo have moved the dial on a score of 2300 from statistical outlier to silver medals.

A total of 2322 was enough for Warwick to win match 4 - but only by 20 as Birmingham chased them down and almost made it, scoring 2302. At the Indoor Championships, the story was more or less identical with Warwick on 2328 and Birmingham on 2307. Loughborough were third in both fixtures, despite what would normally be impressive scores of 2253 and 2281 - Loughborough's match average in the 2250s has seen them complete a clean sweep of 3rd places. Nottingham were 4th in match 4 and in the Champs with scores a touch over 2200 both times.

In match 4, Warwick, Birmingham and Loughborough. Tom Hall and William Pike (both Warwick) were the top scorers in the match, with Hall shooting 596 (the week before he went one better at BUCS Qualifying) and Pike on 590. Behind them was Eleanor Piper (Birmingham) on 585. The rest of Birmingham's team, Conor Hall, Jamal Rahman and Rebekah Tipping all shot in the low 570s too. Arthur Coveney (Loughborough) scored 577, with 571s for Enrik Nako (Warwick) and Chris Cooper (Loughborough).

In the Championships, there were titles for Tom Hall on 596 and Rebekah Tipping with 586. William Pike and Conor Hall were the support acts despite tallies of 589 and 584. Arthur Coveney led Loughborough's third placed effort with a 583. There were 2 scores of 572 from James Gardner (Warwick) and Christopher Avins (Birmingham) and 3 scores of 571 - Sherman Ip, Hannah Burnage (both Warwick) and Ben Evans (Loughborough). Burnage actually missed out on a place on Warwick's team (on 9s) despite scoring 571.

Usually in match reports, scores of 560 are enough to warrant an individual mention, however it's 570 in this article in order to avoid simply regurgitating the entire leaderboard*. In match 4, a further 7 archers scored in the 560s, and this figure rises to 10 for the Indoor Champs.

In the novice event, Nottingham won match 4 and the Indoor Championships. Birmingham (match 4) and Warwick (IC) were runners up, whilst Loughborough were third both times. Warwick did run Nottingham close in the Championships - only 11 behind in a team of 4 event, but Nottingham's 2095 and 2100 was enough to carry them to a clean sweep. Top individuals at match 4 was Sesha Shayan (Nottingham) on 541. At the Indoor Champs it was Shayan again, this time on 555, with Aaron Lee (Warwick) scoring 546.

Warwick's senior league triumph is their 7th senior BUTTS title in total. Since winning for the first time in 2005 they have averaged a title every other season. Although the win was relatively comfortable in league point terms, the match-to-match reality was much more cut-throat, particularly once runners up Birmingham hit their stride - the only time Warwick dipped below 2300, they were beaten. With the BUCS National Finals and BUTC to come this month, the All Unis records spreadsheet is primed for updates.

Third placed Loughborough averaged enough to win any other regional league with something to spare. Fourth placed Nottingham averaged enough to be competitve at the top of any other regional league, whilst Nottingham's novices completed a clean sweep. Birmingham's aggregate was clearly the second best, but being on the wrong end of a couple of 30 point defeats pre-Christmas meant they were on the back foot in terms of league points.

See BUTTS 2017/18 page.

* Here are the archers who shot scores in the 560s: (Para added 8th Mar)

LM4: Sam Rees (Birmingham) 568, Catherine Jackson (Birmingham) 567, Jack Miller (Loughborough) and Sam Armstrong (Warwick) 565, Sherman Ip, James Gardner (both Warwick) both 563, Christopher Avins (Birmingham) 561
IC: Chris Cooper (Loughborough), Ollie Hurdle (N Trent) and Enrik Nako (Warwick) all 567, Pip Taylor (Derby) 566, Jamal Rahman (Birmingham) 565, Catherine Jackson (Birmingham), Sam Armstrong and Charlotte Rossetti (both Warwick) all 562, Jack Masefield (Derby) 561, Jack Miller (Loughborough) 560