Team Apollo Archery Brings Home the Gold
David Messer
GOLD! GOLD! GOLD! Owensboro, KY was the site of the 2024 Scholastic 3D Archery state 3D tournament, where local competitive archery Team Apollo walked away with three gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal at S3DA’s Kentucky State Championship. Their performance on the archery range on June 7-9, 2024, was an amazing example of some extraordinary young archers. Team Apollo did not just win the gold, silver, and bronze medals, but the team’s Rickalyn Rayburn and Colt Limberis were awarded the honor of Kentucky S3DA Top Gun or Grand Champions in female and male barebow.
Kentucky Elite Archery Academy, in Boyd County, is home to over 60 young archers from all over the Tri-state areas of Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia where certified coaches and instructors train competitive archers ages seven to18 years old. Just in the 2023-2024 season, Team Apollo Archers have amassed 33 Gold Medals, 14 Silver Medals, and 12 Bronze medals at regional, state, and national competitions. Students at the Academy and on Team Apollo are provided both individual and group coaching from S3DA, NASP, and USA Archery NTS Level 3 Nationally Certified Coaches and Instructor Trainers.
Team Apollo’s success at the 2024 Kentucky S3DA 3D Championships included amazing performances and top finishes from: Jayden Furr (14th in Men’s Youth Compound), Abigail McDavid (7th in Women’s Youth Compound), Maggie Brown (4th in Youth Women’s Barebow), Rickalyn Rayburn (Silver Medal in Intermediate Women’s Barebow), Tori Belcher (Gold Medal in Intermediate Women’s Barebow), Eliana McDavid (Gold Medal in Intermediate Women’s Open), Colt Limberis (Gold Medal in Eagle Men’s Barebow), and Emily McDavid (Bronze Medal in Youth Women’s Compound).
Head Coach David Messer shared: “These young archers are an amazing group of kids. We are more like a family than we are an athletic team. These young people are disciplined, committed, and their hard work has proven them to be worthy of the awards they have received. Whether our athletes are part of Team Apollo or are training individually at Kentucky Elite Archery Academy, these archers are getting the same training as our USA Archery
National Teams. We are a Junior Olympic Archery Development Program. I am so proud of these athletes. The theme of our program is that ‘it’s not about winning medals, or being better than every other archer. It’s about being a better archer and a better person than you were the day before.’ We welcome you and your child to come be a part of our archery family. Please check us out on Facebook or at https://davidryanmesser.wixsite.com/ky-elite-archery ”.
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