UK Student Archery Association

Oxford close gap to Warwick [10/Feb/22]

The third BUTTS league match of the season took place in Derby, Cambridge and Birmingham, see the BUTTS 2021/22 page. Only 25 points separated the top three, with Oxford taking top spot by 3 from Nottingham. League leaders Warwick were third. Nottingham convincingly won the novice fixture.

Louisa Piper (Nottingham) shot a score of 596. This ties the existing All Unis record shot which was shot by Bryony Pitman (then Northumbria) at a NEUAL league match in January 2019 - the All Unis records are available in the Resources section. This huge score was, amazingly, not quite enough to take Nottingham to victory. Oxford pipped Nottingham 2289 to 2286, with Yang Pei (Oxford) hitting 590. Warwick took third spot on 2264. Birmingham and Loughborough were a little way behind, but still broke 2200, with 2217 and 2209. The gap to sixth was 144.

The results ends Warwick's run of consecutive BUTTS match wins at 13 - the last time they were beaten was in BUTTS Outdoors in May 2018. Oxford's last BUTTS match win was also at a BUTTS Outdoors - in May 2015. Because Nottingham finished second, Warwick's lead has been cut from 3 to 1, with one match remaining. A win at the BUTTS Championships might not be enough for Oxford to claim the title though. To win the title Oxford need to beat Warwick by more than 36 points or 2 places.

Behind the scores from Piper and Pei, Ben Evans (Loughborough) scored 581, with Max Harding (Nottingham) on 576. Zoe Harley and Sam Walby (both Oxford), Chris Woodgate (Warwick) and So Chun Ngai Ugo (Birmingham) were all in the low 570s, with Ffion Edgeley (Loughborough) on 568, Leigh Hewitt (Warwick) on 567. A further four archers finished in the low 560s: Zinan Ni (Birmingham), James Gardner and Wills Chiu (both Warwick) and Hannah Evans (Nottingham).

In the novice match, Nottingham were the big winners with a (team of 4) total of 2072, with Mohammed Ismael Ahmed and Benjamin Young at either end of the 520s. Birmingham were second on 1948, with Warwick third and De Montfort - for whom Stuart Pimson was top novice in the match on 542 - were fourth. In terms of the novice table, Loughborough were leading, but their 6th place finish in this match means they drop to third, 2 points behind Birmingham who are 2 points behind Nottingham.

BUTTS' main division is next in action at the decisive Indoor Championships in Loughborough on 12th Mar - at which all 13 clubs should attend. There are two div 2 fixtures before then, at Coventry next weekend on Sat 12th Feb and Northampton on Sat 5th Mar. SSS match 5 and SEAL match 3 also take place next weekend.