One Last Shot
Local Archers Get Final Local Tune-Up
Jarrod E. Stephens
The Ashland Beacon
At the beginning of any competitive sports season goals are put into place for teams and individu-als. Archery is a sport where you can truly compete against yourself as you try to improve your personal best score, but as is the case for many other sports, winning for the team means so much more.
Archers begin preparations for the season in October and for several months they hone their skills for one of the most difficult competitions you can find. Last week at Paul Blazer High School hun-dreds of local student archers put forth their best efforts to improve their state rankings for a chance to go to the State NASP (National Archer in the Schools Program) Tournament.
The overall top elementary school was the Raceland-Worthington Elementary team. They finished with a score of 2,963. This team swept the region and earned first place at every tournament this season. Second place went to Summit Elementary with a score of 2,870. Cannonsburg Elementary took third place with a team score of 2,652.
Carson Holbrook from Summit Elementary took the top spot in the elementary male division with a score of 260. Jayden Corbin from Raceland-Worthington Elementary earned second place with a score of 256 and 7 tens. Third place overall elementary male was Maverick Helton from Elliott County with 256 and 6 tens. Fourth place elementary male went to Easton Seasor from Summit Elementary. Rounding out the top five elementary males was Gryffen Terry from Ponderosa Elementary.
In the female division it was a clean sweep in the top three by Raceland-Worthington Elementary. Josie Kate Ison took the overall elementary female award with a score of 264. Calli Bentley was second place with a score of 256 and Kendall Moore was third with a score of 252. Abbriella Adkins from Summit Elementary took fourth place and Emmalee Vanderhoof from Raceland-Worthington Elementary took fifth place.
Raceland-Worthington Middle School was the the highest ranking team with a score of 3,164. Like the elementary team, the Raceland-Worthington Middle School team placed first in every tournament that they competed in this season. The second-place team was Wurtland Middle School with a score of 3050. The third-place middle school team was Russell Middle School with a team score of 3029.
The overall first-place middle school male was Caden Smith from Raceland-Worthington Middle School with a score of 286. Andrew Newell from Rose Hill Christian was second place with a score of 285 and 18 tens. Aaron Williams from Russell Middle School was in third place with 285 and 17 tens. Fourth place was awarded to Thomas Gibson from Wurtland Middle School and fifth place went to Gatlin Stephens from Raceland-Worthington Middle School.
In the middle school female division Lilah White from Raceland-Worthington Middle School was first place with a score of 285. Also from Raceland, Brooklynn Witt was second place with a score of 279. Carmen Callaway from Rose Hill Christian scored 273 and was third place. Fourth place was Hadley Singer from Simms Middle School and Mattie Westfall from Wurtland Middle was fifth place.
Russell High School won first place in the high school division with a team score of 3,239. Second place went to Rose Hill Christian with a team score of 3,238. Fleming County High School scored 3,219 and earned third place.
Eden Flatt from Elliott County won first place overall high school male with a score of 291. Fleming County’s Logan Darnell scored 286 and earned second place. Third place high school male was Brennan Stephens from Rose Hill Christian with a score of 283. Isaac Adkins of Boyd County was fourth place and Cody Wolfe of Greenup County High was fifth place.
The first-place high school female was Destiny Watkins from Fairview with a score of 285 and 19 tens. Kennedy Logan from Raceland-Worthington High School was second place with a score of 285 and 17 tens. Third place was Trinity Flora from Fleming County with a score of 280. Fourth place was Miko Lester from Boyd County, and fifth place went to Lacey Isgett from Russell High School.
Teams and individuals will continue to compete in various events across the state and wait for their opportunity to register for the state tournament. The top 100 elementary schools in the state will be invited to attend the state tournament. The top 125 middle school teams will be invited to as well as the top 150 high school teams. Archers, good luck in the weeks to come and good luck at the state competition in March.