Dylan Black earned his shot at competing in the National Archery in the Schools (NASP) Championship earlier this month.

And after taking on the best youth archers in the country, the Barren County High School rising senior is eager to get another shot at the competition next year.

“I’ve been shooting with NASP since I was in the fourth grade, but this is the first time I’ve been this far,” Black said. “It was an amazing experience. It was kind of nerve-wracking with it being the best of the best archers in the program. It was just a truly mind-blowing experience. I was truly blessed to have the opportunity to go.”

Black created that opportunity with a personal-best performance leading up to the season-ending tournament held June 6-8 at Daytona Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida.

To get there, Black had to meet the minimum qualifying standard at the Eastern National Championship held in May at the Louisville Exposition Center. Black, who has averaged in the 280s, didn’t think the qualifying mark of 279 would be a problem.

He was right – Black shot a career-best 290 in Louisville to qualify for the Florida competition for the first time.

It was the latest remarkable step in Black’s improbable rise in the sport of archery – born without arms, the 17-year-old competes with the aid of a custom-built stand donated by Warren County Sheet Metal, back when Black was a fifth-grader at Richardsville Elementary School just getting started in the sport.

That stand came with Black to Barren County when his family moved into the area a couple years ago.

“After getting the stand, we worked with the stand and as I grew taller we were able to adjust the stand to my height,” Black said. “We’ve never had any issues with it at all. The last couple years we did move to Barren County. I was really sad to say goodbye to my coaches from Warren East because if it weren’t for them I wouldn’t be where I am today. But even though my new coaches down at Barren County had no idea what the deal was, they hit the ground running and tried everything under the sun to help me improve as an archer. They made this year and last year as well just an absolute blast.”

The stand holds the bow, but Black draws the arrow with his teeth – which comes with its own challenges.

“For a while the biggest struggle was my back,” Black said. “The way I shoot, it does put a lot of strain on my back. Thankfully my coaches at Barren County have helped me adjust my stand and my bow and myself so that I am able to shoot more comfortably, and that has just been a massive blessing for me. And then there’s always the issue of the mouthpiece that I use to shoot – we’ve gone through I want to say a good 20 different mouthpieces trying to figure out the right one.”

Black and his coaches found a good combination this season, as evidenced by that career-high 290 he scored in the Louisville competition. That also drew some notice and the potential for a new challenge down the road for Black.

“When I was shooting at nationals down in Louisville, I was approached by the Paralympics coach and he told me he’d love to have me shoot with him, but if I were to compete at that level I would have learn how to shoot without the stand and learn how to shoot with my feet,” Black said. “That’s something that I’m really looking forward to trying, but I’m just going to stick with the stand for the moment.”

Heading down to Daytona Beach, Black was confident he could match his performance in Louisville – perhaps even top it.

It wasn’t his day, though – Black worked his way through three rounds, two from 10 meters followed by a final challenge from 15 meters. A maximum score in the event is 300 – Black finished with a 278 total, which ranked 159th out of 497 high school boys in the competition.

“I will say that my score at this competition brought my mood down,” Black said. “At nationals, which is where I qualified to shoot for it, leading up to that competition I was telling myself I did not want to go shoot in Florida unless I shot a 290 or higher. The qualifying score in order to shoot in Florida was only a 279, but I didn’t want to go just to go – I wanted to be there and compete. So when I shot that 290 at nationals, it was a big moment for me, it was a very emotional moment. So when I did shoot a 278, which is below my standards personally, I was kind of bummed. But other than that, it was a true blessing to even have the opportunity to be there.”

Black is taking a summer break from archery now, but he’ll be back at it soon as he works to get back to the NASP championship.

“Me personally, I wish I did better,” Black said. “But I’ve been told by everybody around me that they think I did amazing, so I’m trying to take their word for it and not my own.”{&end}