UK Student Archery Association

Single digit margins decide SSS 3 [10/Jan/25]

Before we get into 2025, there's a little bit of 2024 business from Scotland left to tidy up. SSS match 3 took place on St Andrews Day, with the results coming out on Hogmanay. Strathclyde won the senior and novice team matches, both by wafer thin margins - 4 and 6 points respectively.

The match was hosted by Dundee and Strathclyde and the two host clubs duked it out for top spot in the match and in the table. The round used was a Vegas 300 aka a Bray I. Strathclyde's final total of 1027 was just enough to see them finish above Dundee's 1023. They were over 100 clear of third placed Edinburgh who scored 913, with St Andrews fourth. Only three points covered the top 3 individual archers - Grant McLellan (Strathclyde) was top of the pile on 274, just ahead of Misha Pavlov (Dundee) on 271 - mirroring their respective team's totals. Nan Bei (Edinburgh) scored 272.

On 44 points, Strathclyde now lead the overall SSS standings, one ahead of Dundee with two matches to go. Dundee do have a slightly superior match aggregate but may well need to win both remaining matches to win a third consecutive SSS title. Edinburgh (38 points) and St Andrews (37) are now effectively in a private battle for third.

In the novice match, Strathclyde pipped Heriot-Watt 570 to 564. Top scorer was Mickael Izharudin (Strathclyde) on 238. This result moves both Heriot-Watt and Strathclyde on to 43 points - an intriguing position with two matches to go. If things do go to aggreagte, Heriot-Watt currently have a small but significant advantage. Edinburgh didn't field any novice in this match and drop from 3rd to 7th overall.

St Andrews won the compound match on 576, with Josephine Stewart top individual on 292. Edinburgh were second in the match with 571, but they actually extended their lead in the table to 3 points.

See the updated tables on the SSS 2024/25 page. SSS match 4 is at Heriot-Watt on 25th January.