The archery season has come to an end with fourteen state qualifiers; seniors Drake Murrell and Eastynn Holt; juniors Wesley Jackson, Daytona Kinnan, Serenity Miller, and Hayley case; sophomores Levi Bilderback, Connor Hockett, Barron Ward, and Thomas Kauffman; freshmen Kaylee Jackson, Kinlea Russell, Adrianna James, and Piper Whipkins. The team competed at state March 19-21.
Murrell, Holt, and Ward qualified tier two, which is the highest qualifying scores on the team. Murrell finished with a 279 in bullseye and a 260 in 3D; Holt qualified with a 278 in bullseye; and Ward with a 276 in bullseye. The high school team shot an overall state qualifying score as well.
Junior Wesley Jackson and freshmen Kinlea Russell and Piper Whipkins didn’t individually qualify, Hockett, Case, James, and Miller qualified for their first time individually, but have experienced state as a team. The rest of the team has qualified individually the last two or more years.
“A highlight would be that the high school team shot a qualified score with their team score,” head archery coach, Jackie Downing said.
“This season was probably my worst year so my highlight would be my amazing coaches. My shooting form was messed up at the beginning of the season. I would jerk forward or tilt my bow and that would affect where my arrows went. ” freshman Kaylee Jackson said.
“It was honestly a little rocky. I didn’t shoot my best at the beginning of the season but got it in the end half,” Kinnan said.
Each qualifier has their own personal goals for their doing at state, some even have past goals to meet. These qualifiers range from grades 9-12, as every freshmen, sophomore, and junior have a shot at another year, the seniors experience their last.
“Usually, I have done pretty bad at state compared to my regular season scores but this year I think it will be different,” Murrell said when asked about his personal predictions.
Although Holt doesn’t have much hope for himself.
“I predict I will shoot a pretty low score. It was a rougher season than others. I usually qualify with a 280 or around that,” he said.
The archery team has no new members, they do have continuously accurate participants, though. Over half of the archers have been to state and scored averagely good scores. This year, each state member who qualified had a good outcome; Hockett with a 274 for bullseye and a 273 for 3D; Kauffman with a 276 on bullseye; Case with a 258 on bullseye; Kaylee Jackson with a 268 in bullseye; Bilderback with a 269 in bullseye; Miller with a 266 in bullseye; James with a 271 in bullseye; and Kinnan with a 267 in bullseye.
Each archer experienced a different season and a different way of building up to state. Some had a more exciting and fun experience, while others had a droughtful season.
“The season building up to state was to have a mindset to qualify for state and to shoot better than previous years,” Hockett said.
“The season building up to state was gradual improvements over the season to end up with not the best scores by the end of the season but not the worst,” Kaufman said.
“Building up to state, I had ups and downs in scores. One week I was scoring 250s and the next I was scoring 210s,” Case said.
“This year was a lot better than last year since it was my first year. Last year, I think I was shooting 220s-ish but this year I’m shooting 245s and above. I’m a lot more confident in my shooting skills this year than I was previously,” Miller said.
Archers we’re asked to predict how they would do at state, the majority believed they will do better and have a personal goal to do better at state. Although, some do believe that state won’t be the most successful situation for them to be in.
“I hope I get at least over a 265,” James said.
“I want to get above a 280 and get a personal best,” Ward said.
“I will either shoot really good or bad off of stress,” Russell said.
“I hope at state they can do their personal best,” Downing said.
Each state participating archer took on a day to shoot starting Wednesday, March nineteenth to Saturday, March twenty-first.
