Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.Life has taken Oklahoma-born Erika Anschutz on detours to California, Ohio, Texas and around the world.
For as long as she can remember, however, she has considered herself a Nebraskan.
Now she is — again.
Anschutz, who grew up in Grand Island and graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is the world's top-ranked female compound-bow archer.
She moved to Plattsmouth, Neb., last week. Just in time to reload her quiver for the World Indoor Archery Championships in Las Vegas next month.
And just in time to set aside her bow — for a few days — and tie the knot in March with Casey Jones, who was a collegiate archer at Texas A&M.
"It's a hectic schedule. I'm gone more than I'm here," Anschutz said.
Steve Anschutz, the dad who put the first bow into Erika's hands years ago, said his daughter is tickled to be back in Nebraska.
"She grew up in Nebraska and she's a Husker through and through," he said.
Erika's path to a professional archery career started when she tagged along with her dad to an archery range, where he practiced for local tournaments. Anschutz, now retired in suburban Cincinnati, was a supervisor in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Grand Island field office.
Three years after Anschutz bought 6-year-old Erika a $50 second-hand bow, she became the youngest archer — boy or girl — to shoot a perfect indoor score in the national championship.
Shooting from 18 meters, all 120 of her arrows sliced into the target's 10-ring. Ninety-four hit the penny-sized x-ring. That feat in 1998 landed Erika in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd feature.
"I knew she had a rare talent, but it remained to be seen how far she would go with it," Anschutz said. "It's something you can't coach. It's a natural, God-given gift to shoot like that while maintaining control of your nerves and emotions when everything's on the line."
Since 2002, Erika has been a member of five junior, three collegiate, and 15 senior U.S. World Archery Teams that have successfully competed in World Target Archery Championships and Archery World Cup events.
Erika is one of the world's best target archers. She has medaled 35 times in international individual and team events. Fifteen were gold medals.
She has set 163 national record scores, including 26 world records in indoor and outdoor competition. She was the individual gold medalist at the 2011 Archery World Cup Finals, where she received the Longines Prize for Precision for scoring the most 10s in competition through the five stages of the series.
The World Archery Federation in June ranked Erika as the top compound bow female target archer in the world.
Erika said her secret is an ability to mentally focus on the task at hand.
"Most great archers have a great ability to focus," she said. "I remember growing up that it was common for kids who were good archers to have great grades and do well in school. Archery is 99 percent mental. If you think that you'll miss the bull's-eye, you probably will miss."
Erika didn't lose her focus during her college career, which included one year at Ohio's Miami University. She graduated from Nebraska in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in psychology and a 3.953 grade-point average. She now is studying for a master's degree in forensic psychology through the University of North Dakota.
Her ultimate goal is to be known as one of the best female archers of all time.
"To be considered one of the best," Erika said, "you need to be consistent, you need to keep winning and you need to do it well for a few years."
She won a gold and bronze medal in the team and individual events, respectively, at the last world indoor championships in Poland.
The quest continues Feb. 5 through 9 when she represents the U.S. in individual and team competitions against other top women archers from around the world.
Banquet set for Trout Unlimited chapter
Nebraska's newly expanded statewide Trout Unlimited chapter hosts its annual banquet Jan. 28 at Anthony's Restaurant in Omaha.
The keynote speaker will be Steve Heinitz, owner of North Platte Trouters in Saratoga, Wyo. Linda Lovgren of Omaha, director of Nebraska Casting for Recovery, will report on the organization's first outing.
The event is Chapter 710's only fundraiser. Money raised is used to protect trout habitat in the state, spokesman David Jacobs said.
Dinner tickets are $35. Doors open at 5 p.m., dinner is at 6:30. For more information and to order tickets, contact Jacobs at tu710@cox.net.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com
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