Mullins leads LCHS archery at state; wins HS, overall titles

Published 5:00 pm Thursday, April 6, 2017

STANFORD — When attending an archery tournament, one of the last things a high school coach expects to hear from one of his/her athletes is the children’s song “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.”
But that was exactly what Lincoln County High School archery coach Ricky Mullins heard between rounds from his son, Roby Mullins, in the finals of the 2017 Kentucky National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) State Championships at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville this past weekend.
Roby, a junior at LCHS, who is generally calm and collective during shoots, had a case of nerves in the finals and that’s when he and some fellow archers turned to the song to calm those nerves.
“He did get a little nervous,” Ricky Mullins said. “Me and the dad of (some other kids) were standing back and watching him and he shot. He said, ‘Drop one?’ I said, ‘I think so.’ Then I looked over and he was doing this (touching his head, shoulders and knees) and singing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” – in French.”
“Him and some of the kids were just talking and playing between shoots, trying to take their minds off what they were doing.”
Apparently the singing did its job. Roby shot a 298 out of 300, with 28 10’s, to earn himself two state titles. Roby’s 298 won him first place in the High School Boys State Tournament and the Overall NASP championship trophy, which included a new bow as a prize. 
“It worked,” Ricky Mullins said of Roby’s musical break. “I told him, ‘You keep on singing, buddy.’”
Roby’s score was the best out of 234 high school junior boys, first out of 1,067 high school boys, tops overall out of 3,247 boys and the high score out of all the tourney’s 6,200 archers (boys and girls).
“He actually had the top score of the whole tournament with a 298 out of 300. He has a 296 average for the year, which is unbelieveable out of 15 tournaments,” Ricky Mullins said of Roby. “He’s done real well this year.”
And Ricky Mullins says he expects nothing less from his son in each competition.
“He’s built himself up now and is pretty confident whenever he shoots,” he said. “I told him, ‘When you decide you’re going to be one of the best, you will.’ And he usually is among the best.”
Roby, who was also a regional champion, is close to realizing his year’s goal.
“His goal is to win region, state and nationals, and not get to go to world because of GSP (Governor’s Scholars Program),” Coach Mullins said. “Then he wants to come back next year and win everything. He’s got two of the three things he wanted to win this year so far.”
Cody Rose of Wolfe County had the runner-up finish for the boys at state, shooting a 297 with 27 10’s. The next five boys all scored 295, with Henry Thompson of Anderson County getting 27 10’s while Noah Platt of Anderson County, Taylor Bell of Wayne County, T Sanchez of Hopkins County Central and Clay Stevens of Trigg County each had 25 10’s.
As a team, Lincoln did not have one of its best NASP state tourney finishes, but still managed a top 10 finish with a score of 3,385.
“We finished 10th out of 105 high school teams. We shot decent. But we’re down a little bit this year. We lost some shooters,” Coach Mullins said. “Our scores have been down from the past and last year, but we lost that bottom half. They score the top 12, so from nine through 16 hasn’t been what it has been. We lost some shooters, but we shot pretty decent.”
Newcomer McKenzie Baxter, a sophomore, and veteran archers Roland Taylor, McKenzie Settles, Jacob Holtzclaw and Gavin Fowler provide some strong shooting for Lincoln. 
“McKenzie Baxter she just started this year and she’s come up and shooting in the 280’s now and really stepping up,” Coach Mullins said. “Of course, McKenzie Settles, Roland and Gavin and Jacob all shot good. They shot 85’s, 86’s, 87’s or better.”
Taylor, a senior, had Lincoln’s second best score, finishing with a 290 with 21 10’s to place him 11th out of 224 senior boys, which cost him a $1,000 cash scholarship.
The top 10 seniors were each given a $1,000 scholarship. But Mullins said Taylor could still receive some scholarship money.
“Roland may still be getting a scholarship,” Mullins said. “They told me to call back and check.”
Lincoln, which won the regional team trophy, will be competing in the NASP Nationals May 11-13 at the Kentucky Exposition Center. Prior to that, the team will be participating in the KHSAA State Tournament April 20.
Mullins took a team of 16 shooters to the Louisville competition. The individual scores of the LCHS archers were:
• Roby Mullins, 298, 28 10’s.
• Roland Taylor, 290, 21 10’s.
• Jacob Holtzclaw, 287, 20 10’s.
• McKenzie Settles, 287, 19 10’s.
• Gavin Fowler, 286, 21 10’s.
• Karissa McLaren, 284, 18 10’s.
• McKenzie Baxter, 284, 16 10’s.
• Levi Henderson, 280, 16 10’s.
• Jacob Summers, 279, 12 10’s.
• Brooklyn Garrett, 275, 13 10’s.
• Lucy Singleton, 268, 10 10’s.
• Allissa Doss, 267, 9 10’s.
• Garrett Robertson 264, 10 10’s.
• Kira Lewis, 264, 5 10’s.
• Thomas Hill, 262, 10 10’s.
• Taylor Wesley, 257, 8 10’s.
Lincoln County had a total of four teams competing at the state meet, with Lincoln County Middle School, Waynesburg Elementary and Stanford Elementary also participating.
LCMS finished 12th out of 97 teams with a score of 3,281.
The LCMS archers participating and their scores, with 10s in parentheses were: Olivia Denny 287 (19); Alexis Adams 276 (13); Savannah Hoseclaw 275 (12); Logan Martin 273 (13); John Hughes 273 (12); Lindsey Phillips 273 (11); Hunter Cornelius 272 (13); Sallie Cain 272 (9); Emma Patterson 271 (11); Pascha Mullins 271 (9); Leevi Warren 270 (14); and Chaney Hagan 268 (9).
Waynesburg had a score of 2,775 to finish 63 out of 75 in the elementary division and Stanford had a 2,538 to finish 75th.
The Waynesburg archers participating and their scores, with 10’s in parentheses were: Levi Heist 257 (7); Avery Wesley 256 (7); Koral Ranck 248 (4); Jordan Carter 246 (2); Ruby Bratcher 244 (8); Leighla Moore 244 (8); Colton Hodge 241 (9); and Ashley Cole 221 (4).
The Stanford archers and their scores were: Logan Lawson 253 (8); Ethan Murphy 232 (4); Rylee Mullins 227 (2); Kathryn Davis 220 (0); Kerynna Jarman 209 (3); Kaden Young 206 (3); Cole Bourne 206 (2); Kayla Walters 206 (1); Braden Thompson 199 (3); Taylor McKay 197 (1); Catrina Ernst 193 (3); and Kash Smith 190 (1).  

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