Hattiesburg, Miss.- The William Carey Archery team recently finished first in the 2025 NFAA Collegiate Cup Invitational Championship.
 
In late September an invitation was sent to eight of the top collegiate archery teams in the Nation.  Five of the teams accepted the invitation.  The five teams were William Carey University, Muskingum University (New Concord, Ohio), Michigan State (Lansing, MI), Mt. Marty University, Yankton, SD), Pennsylvania Tech (Williamsport, PA). This was a virtual competition compiled of all four classes of shooting, which is Compound, Recurve, Bowhunter, and Barebow.  The shoot consisted of male and female archers, with the top archer in each class advancing to the finals.  After four weeks of shooting and turning in a team score once per week, the top four archers, one from each class, from the two top teams competed for the championship.  WCU finished as the number one team and Muskingum finished second.  Carey's team consisted of Elias Reyes (Compound), Santiago Pinilla (Recurve), Julia Pryor (Bowhunter), and Emmie Purcell (Barebow).
 
On November 19th, the finals were held via Zoom.  This consisted of each archer shooting three arrows per round (12 arrows total).  After the first round, the Crusaders were down by one point, 108 to 109.  However, Carey archers shot a solid second round to finish with a 223 to 206 score to win the championship.  
 
"This was the first NFAA Collegiate Cup hosted," says Head Coach Johnny Stinson. "Our archers have practiced and competed for long hours and in all conditions, indoors and outdoors to rise to the level needed to successfully compete at the Collegiate level.  I am very proud of our team, their dedication, and the representation of William Carey wherever we're competing," added Coach Stinson.