MIDWAY, Ky. - When Darren Collins says he "couldn't have asked for anything better" from a recent trip to the USA Archery Collegiate Target Nationals, it's easy to believe him.

After taking over as Midway's coach halfway through the 2024-25 season, Collins closed year one by leading the Eagles to a 13th-place finish at the 51-team tournament the concluded May 18. This marked the first time Midway has finished inside the top-20 at a USA Archery national event.

He also coached freshman Kelli Booth to an All-American, sixth-place finish in the fixed pins women's division. While not the first All-American in Midway archery history, Booth is the first to earn the honor at a USA Archery tournament.

This capped a year in which she also became the first Eagle to win a Mid-South Conference championship.

Such accomplishments were far from a certainty when the season began. Coming into the year, 10 of Midway's 16 archers were freshmen, and Collins says it took time to get everyone to understand the intricacies of team competition.

But once they did, he says he saw a big spike in both success and morale.

"A lot of them had never understood the team side and being able to back each other," Collins said. "It was more of a large group of individuals.

"But they've learned a lot. So now when we go to tournaments, that individual that's competing one-on-one against our opponent is not sitting there by themselves. They have their teammates behind them spotting for them, telling them where their arrows are going so they have a better understanding of what's happening and can make adjustments. It was a learning curve but...I was able to keep them in their environment and back each other."



The national tournament was also a moment of personal triumph for Collins. He got to be on hand to watch his daughter, University of the Cumberlands senior Kennedy Sumpter, close her college career by winning a national championship in women's barebow.

"For a coach and a father, you couldn't ask for anything better," he said.

Now, Collins says the goal is to get this Eagle program to raise its performance even higher in the coming seasons.

And with a strong, young core set to return, he says he's starting to feel the ripple effects of this recent success on the recruiting trail, where prospective newcomers seem eager to continue the upward trajectory.

"What they've done has really boosted the program and there's a lot of people that are noticing it," Collins said. "A lot of people are wanting to come over this way because they see Midway as on the move."