April 18, 2013

Nearly 300 students competed in state archery tournament April 6 in hopes of making nationals

PRATT ­­– Kansas Archery in the Schools program hosted the fourth annual state archery tournament, Saturday, April 6, at Fort Hays State University.

The Kansas Archery program operates under the umbrella of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism and the National Archery in the Schools (NASP) program, a nonprofit foundation aimed at promoting international-style target archery among students in grades 4-12.

With the help of KDWPT and NASP, program coordinators are able to introduce archery as a fun, lifelong activity to young people who may have never taken up the sport otherwise. Currently, there are 223 Kansas schools involved with this program.

Out of the nearly 300 participants in attendance, a total of nine teams and nine individuals qualified to compete at the national level.

Students from 13 communities competed this year, including: Anthony-Harper, Clearwater, Erie, Greely County (Tribune), Healy, Hugoton, Jackson Heights (Holton), Kingman, Neodesha, Otis-Bison, Prairie Trail Middle School (Olathe), Rose Hill, and Stockton.

Competing in one of three grade divisions, elementary school (4-6), middle school (7-8), or high school (9-12), participants are required to shoot five arrows in each of the three rounds from a distance of 10 meters and a distance of 15 meters.

A score of 300 points is considered perfect, which would be scores of 10 on each of the 30 total arrows they can be scored on.

Individual students that qualified for nationals are as follows:

Elementary Division

1

– Katelyn Blanco, Clearwater

2

– Jack Rowland, Clearwater

3

– Abram Avelar, Clearwater

Middle School Division

1

– Tatyana Miner, Clearwater (Top female and top overall shooter with a score of 279)

2

– Taylor Cowlas, Clearwater

3

– Brad Lightfoot, Otis-Bison

High School Division

1

– Jessica Koch, Clearwater

2

– Brandon Williams, Clearwater (Top male shooter with a score of 264)

3

– Kyle Reed, Clearwater

Teams that qualified for nationals are as follows:

Elementary School Division

1

– Clearwater Columbia

2

– Anthony

3

– Clearwater Navy

Middle School Division

1

– Clearwater Columbia

2

– Clearwater Navy

3

– Anthony MS

High School Division

1

– Clearwater Columbia

2

– Jackson Heights

3

– Clearwater Navy

“This event was a huge success this year, largely due in part to our dedicated and hard working staff,” said KDWPT wildlife education coordinator Mike Rader. “This program wouldn’t be possible without people like Joyce Ellis, the event coordinator at Fort Hays State University, Gary Keehn, the Kansas NASP state coordinator, all the NASP trainers, KDWPT employees, the Fort Hays State University students and the many other volunteers who set up and ran this competition. It was a great time.”

Qualified participants will compete at the National Archery in the Schools tournament in Louisville Kentucky May 10-11.

For more information, visit www.ksoutdoors.com and click “Services / Education / Archery in the Schools,” or email Rader at mike.rader@ksoutdoors.com.

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