UK Student Archery Association

Dundee clean sweep SSS [10/Mar/23]

Dundee won SSS match 5 (11th Feb) to win the senior SSS league for the first time. They also won the SSS Indoor Championships (4th Mar). Both matches used a WA18, rather than a Portsmouth, with the results from match 5 officially embargoed until the Indoor Champs. The Championship is a freestanding event and does not count towards the overall SSS league table.

Heading in to match 5, Dundee already held a sizeable lead in the senior SSS table. A win in the match meant they recorded a clean sweep. In match 5 and the Indoor Champs they shot virtually identical team of 4 (WA18) totals of 1981 and 1984. Heriot-Watt were a competitive second in both fixtures with 1960 and 1942. St Andrews took third spot in match 5, with Strathclyde third at the indoor champs.

Dundee completed the formalities of securing their first senior SSS league title in some style, with a maximum 75 out of 75 points. Dundee's 22/23 SSS performance obliterates the club's best SSS league results of the past. Since 2001, Dundee have only finished on the SSS league podium 3 times, most recently in 2009. In the same period they have finished last 4 times. Dundee's clean sweep is the first in SSS since Edinburgh in 2014/15. Dundee are also the fifth different SSS league winner in the last five competitive seasons.

Heriot-Watt were second in the league on 67 points, with Strathclyde third on 64. Before the last league match Aberdeen led St Andrews by 2 league points and by 244 on aggregate. St Andrews turned the tables by 2 places and 256 to grab fourth, right on the line. UWS finished 6th overall, which is their best ever finish in the senior table.

Joshua Phillips (Aberdeen) was the top individual in both matches with 544 and 551. Yohann Renault (St Andrews) hit 541 at the indoors. Across both matches, there were several others around the 530 mark: Benjamin Homer (Strathclyde) twice and Matthew Sin, Alex Lai, Rachael Chin (all Dundee) and Sam Chapman (Heriot-Watt) once each.

In the novice matches, Edinburgh and Strathclyde were level on points heading into match 5 and it was Strathclyde who pulled ahead on the line to win their first SSS novice league title. Edinburgh gained some revenge by winning the novice team element of the Indoor Champs. Strathclyde's team total in match 5 was 1145, with Edinburgh on 1119, nearly being caught by St Andrews on 1117. At the Indoors however Edinburgh stormed ahead with 1267. Strathclyde trailed on 1136, with UWS bagging third on 1047. Top scorers across the two fixtures were Evan Kudler and Tianshu Fang (both Edinburgh) with 451 and 448, both at the Indoors.

Since its inception in 2006, the SSS novice league has mainly been won by Edinburgh. Only Napier, who won in 2008 and narrowly missed out on aggregate in 2013, have interrupted the flow of novice titles to Edinburgh. UWS' novices were 4th in the final 22/23 novice standings, matching their seniors in producing all-time best.

In the SSS compound league, Edinburgh finished first, St Andrews second and Heriot-Watt third in both match 5, the final league tables and the indoor champs. Jake Walsh (Edinburgh) top scored in both matches with 586 and 588, narrowly missing out on his own All Unis record of 589.

Results and the final SSS tables can be seen on the SSS 2022/23 page.