BATESVILLE — Gina Mishark, an upcoming seventh-grader at Batesville Junior High School, knows archery and has the titles to prove it.
Mishark placed second in the elementary-school girls category of the National Archery in the Schools Program World Championship in St. Louis at the end of June. She finished the competition by shooting a 289 out of a possible 300.
The elementary category includes children in fourth through sixth grades.
Mishark, along with the Eagle Mountain Magnet Elementary School and Batesville Junior High School archery teams, attended the World Championship.
Susan Parker, coach of the Eagle Mountain Magnet Elementary and Batesville Junior High archery teams, said this was the fifth year for the elementary team to go to the championship.
Mishark is no stranger to archery or tournaments. This is her second time to earn second place at the world competition.
“I’ve been doing archery since the fourth grade,” Mishark said. “My big brother did it, and I wanted to do it.”
Mishark said it took her at least a year to really “get good” at the sport.
“When you first get into it, the hardest thing is getting your aimpoint down,” Mishark said. An aimpoint is a precise point associated with a target.
Although she placed second at the World Championship, Mishark is the No. 1-ranked elementary-school girl archer in the world, with a score of 292 out of 300, and she said she has higher expectations for herself.
“I want to be first in the world,” Mishark said.
Her status as a world second-place archer gives her some high expectations to hold to, she said. Those expectations are not for her alone. She uses her expertise to help up-and-coming archers in the Batesville School District.
“I love to help with the archery camps,” Mishark said.
Since she is headed to junior high school next year, Mishark will change age divisions and participate in the middle school category.
Mishark said that although she has to focus intensely on the sport, that same focus can cause her to slip up.
“I can’t stay zeroed in on one thing or I lose my focus,” Mishark said.
Parker said Mishark makes her proud to be an archery coach.
“She [and her team] work so hard,” Parker said. “During school, they practice three times a week.”
Parker said the teams have two afternoon practices during the week, along with a morning practice.
Eagle Mountain Magnet has won the World Championship in the elementary category twice and has earned third place three times, Parker said.
Her teams perform well at competitions because of the positivity that she encourages them to exhibit, Parker said.
“I want them to always be positive,” Parker said. “Even if they didn’t score well, I get them to tell me the best thing that happened in that round.”
Staff writer Lisa Burnett can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or lburnett@arkansasonline.com.