By Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway.
Ciboney walked off with the three biggest prizes on Sunday—team, top boy, top girl—then the first four of the five spots in the boys division, during the Virgin Islands Archery Association’s National Archery in Schools Nationals at Cedar School. Ciboney grabbed $10,692.60 of the $13,000 in scholarship prizes available.
Despite inclement weather, the 27 participants from Ciboney and Cedar School, were shooting better in the rain than without the rain, VI Archery Association Secretary Ritseeniyah Georges told Island Sun Sports.
Ciboney’s Nicholas Moore who was in fourth place, was the top boy after the shoot off and won $2730 and a bow, finishing five points better that teammate Valentin Zahrebelnyj who earned $1300 for second. Benjamin Moore was third and earned $650. Sheylon Brown placed fourth and copped $552.50, while Cedar School’s Aeryz Rofls prevented a sweep with $357.50 in fifth.
Moore said he was ‘very nervous’ in the shootout. “But I got it done,” he said. “I stayed calm. I focused on one shot at a time. We never really shot in the rain but it was good knowledge and experience to see how it feels.”
Zahrebelnyj said it came down to one arrow. “If I had gotten one more arrow on a better number, I probably would have beaten Nick, but you know, it’s a good thing to lose sometimes,” he said. “It’s easier to learn. I told myself to stay calm. I was calling out the scores in my mind. I’d be like ‘hit an 8’ hit an 8’ and I’d hit it and that would motivate me more, so I was like now, ‘hit a 10,’ that was my motivation.”
