Miranda Lauria of Columbia Falls earned a silver medal for the University of the Cumberlands from Williamsburg, Kentucky, at the U.S. Intercollegiate Indoor Archery Championships on Feb. 9-11 in Las Vegas.

Lauria, a freshman majoring in exercise sports science, competed in the women’s recurve event. She came into the championships as the No. 2 seed.

Lauria beat Callie Stevens of Mount Marty College 7-1 and Kirstin Cassidy, the third seed, of UC-Irvine 6-2 to move on to the gold medal match.

In the final, Lauria lost to McKenna Cooley, the fourth seed, of Mount Marty 6-4. Lauria won the first end, dropped the next two and tied the final three.

“I had a couple bad shots that cost me the gold,” Lauria said.

“I think the pressure got to me a little bit. It was a new experience being on the collegiate side of it.”

The indoor national team champion is decided by most individual gold medals. Cumberland had five to take those honors as well.

Lauria was one of 12 Patriots competing in Las Vegas.

Cumberland won the title a year ago with three gold medals.

At the USIIAC South Regional earlier, Lauria won a gold medal with a 1,033 score. She finished 100 points ahead of the runner-up.

“I think I’m right around where I was expecting to be,” she said of her success.

“My dedication to it,” she said of her biggest asset.

“I shoot every day, couple times a day. I love it. It’s not really work, but something I love doing.”

And now with a silver medal hanging next to her bed, “it makes my wanna try harder to get the gold.”

Lauria began shooting at the age of 4. Competitive shooting followed five years later.

She has won Montana state 4H and NSAA state championships, state indoor titles and 3D shoots.

She took one year off when the local 4H club didn’t have a leader or a place to shoot when she was 10.

“My older brother shot 4H, my dad was the coach in Columbia Falls so it just kind of happened,” she said.

“Everyone in the family shoots, and I shot, too.”

While a senior in high school, Lauria competed in the women’s Flight Class (ages 18-and-up) in Las Vegas the same time as the U.S. Intercollegiate Indoor Archery Championships were being held. She was in the fourth flight and finished 17th.

“I had been emailing the (Cumberlands) coach before that shoot,” she said.

“Last year was the first time colleges went there. It was the world’s largest indoor shoot. I met the coach, met the team and visited the school in April.”

Lauria signed an athletic scholarship for archery at Cumberlands the same month.

Up next for Lauria is the outdoor season, which ends with a national tournament in Mississippi in May.

Targets for the outdoor season are at 70 meters, compared to 20 yards for indoor.

“When I started recurve, I struggled with it a little bit,” she said.

“It was hard to switch from compound. It was a lot harder to shoot. I’m still working on it.

“I like that anyone can shoot a bow,” she said of what makes her sport special.

“There are no limitations. When I was in Vegas I got see every age group — 5 to 80 — people with prosthetics, braces competing. It’s just the coolest thing.

“It’s an Olympic sport,” she added, “so maybe I can make it to the Olympics one day.”