Move over Katniss

Local archer racks up 28th national championship

Katniss Everdeen, a character in the movie trilogy “The Hunger Games,” may have been good with a bow and arrow. She may have even been great. But Everdeen will have to move over for Chris Berry, a local archer from Sarcoxie, who has racked up a whopping 28 national championships, 12 world level championships and had a total of 98 podium finishes at the combined national and world competitions.

While the movie franchise has found a resurgence in popularity for archery enthusiasts, with some area schools even forming archery teams, Berry has been an ardent fan of the sport for more than 30 years.

“My dad got a bow for Christmas when I was about four or five years old,” he said. “He didn’t want it, so he gave it to me. I took to it like a duck to water, terrorizing mice and rats — or whatever would sit still long enough for me to shoot at it.”

That is what sparked his lifelong love of the sport.

Berry has spent the past 30 years competing professionally, at national and world events, taking home his share of top honors.

Story by Melonie Roberts

“A lot has changed in the sport since the 1960s,” he said. “I went from a $30 set up to where just one bow cost $2,500. I’ve had lots of training and coaches. Even today, I still get advice from others. It’s important in order to keep our head in the game.”

Berry also competed in a televised competition hosted by Archery, Field and Sports, where finalists actually shot exploding discs.

Although there is growing interest in the sport, Berry recalled a time when there were just a handful of competitors who remembered how to do this type of competition.

“It’s been about 18 years since we’ve had this style of competition,” he said. “It was very fast paced, family and crowd oriented. It was intense. There were like 10 million viewers when it aired.”

Although the Covid-19 pandemic side-railed a few competitions in the past two years, Berry said before that, he would travel 80 to 100 days per year.

Chris Berry, a local archer, takes aim at a target during one of the national competitions in which he participated. Berry has captured 28 national championships, 12 world level championships and had a total of 98 podium finishes at the combined national and world competitions, where he took second or third place.

“During Covid, I cut back to 50 or 60 days per year.”

Berry has also mentored others, helping students at Sarcoxie High School set up their archery program.

“They have won multiple world and national championships,” he said. “I’m proud to have been a part of that.”

He also taught the sport at Roaring River State Park for more than 15 years.

“I was really happy to be a part of that,” he said. “I guess I have taught or mentored 35,391 kids over the past 15 years. I ran into a former student’s parent not long back, and she said their child was still crazy about [archery]. That’s what it’s all about.” n

Previously in Keeping Secrets, 15-year-old Paige learns that her mom, Alice, is a spy and that her dad has been kidnapped by Alice’s rogue boss, Piper. With the help of tech guy Tom, they track Alice down and find Nathan, Paige’s dad. In her attempt to get the files Alice is hiding, Piper steals Paige away believing Paige’s lie about the file’s location. Paige manages to send a quick text message to her friend Brayden before destroying her phone and sending Piper into a rage.