Jefferson County archers made strong showings at the Eastern National Archery in Schools Program (NASP) tournament May 9-11 in Louisville, Ky. Missouri had 905 archers from 36 schools compete in the three-day event. County schools sent 11 teams and one individual.
George Guffey Elementary School in the Fox C-6 District finished third in the elementary bullseye competition, in which 199 schools were represented. Top archers on the Guffey team included fifth grader Logan Bloodworth, who shot a 277 out of 300 for 40th best out of 2,120 boys, and Sydney Wolff, who posted a 271 for a 46th place finish among 1,789 girls.
Hillsboro placed sixth among 252 high school teams with a score of 3,419 out of a possible 3,600 perfect score (top 12 archers combined). Freshmen Wade Conner and Rylan Luttrell posted scores of 292 and 291 out of 300 respectively, good for 33rd and 56th place in the high school division. Overall there were 2,513 boys and 2,496 girls in the bullseye competition.
Hawk junior Reese Churchill fired a 288 for 51st place, followed by seniors Colton Gronborg (287) and Sabrina Painter (286), juniors Gweneviere Carroll (284) and Samuel Pierce (283) and freshman Adelynn Jaeschke (283).
Seckman shooters claimed 97th place among the 252 high school teams with a score of 3,273. Junior Maddie McConochie led the Jaguars with a 286, good for 91st place among the 2,496 girls in the event.
Windsor High archers turned in a score of 3,257 for 115th place. Junior Noah Poirrier had the highest score on his team with a 287, and Kennedy Nelson’s 284 was good enough for 129th place among the girls.
Fox High’s score of 3,225 was the 147th best at the top level. Juniors Semir Mejic (283) and Keegan Casper (282) had the highest scores for the Warriors.
McKenzie Zoph, a senior at Festus, competed as an individual in the national tournament and finished her high school career with a 283, good for 185th place.
Hillsboro Junior High took seventh place in the middle school division, out of 267 schools, with a team score of 3,318. The Hawks’ top performers were eighth-grade boys who competed with 2,941 archers in their age group. James Kimbrell finished in 51st place with a score of 285, Colton Olson shot 284 for 55th and Lucas Burle was 101st with a 282.
Ridgewood Middle School in the Fox C-6 district placed 18th in its division with a scor e of 3,281. Seventh-grade boys Leo Pagan (283) and Hayden Reckert (280) were the top shooters for Ridgewood.
Seckman Middle School archers scored 3,181 for 82nd place among the 267 middle schools. Top performers were eighth-grader Ian Slavin with a 281 and sixth-grader Ryleigh Peppers with a 273.
County elementary schools that competed with Guffey and 198 other schools at the national tournament included Lonedell, Seckman and Meramec Heights. Lonedell finished in 25th place with top shooters Zoey Suntrup (265) and Ella Anderson (261). Seckman ranked 57th with top scores from Paige Steinhoff (259) and Luke Giger (258) and Meremec Heights came in 101st, led by Alyson Fraley (270) and Elise Watkins (264).
In addition to the bullseye competition, Hillsboro archers also participated in the 3D Tournament at Louisville. Freshman Wade Conner of Hillsboro High finished third among 1,225 high school shooters with a 295. His team placed fourth out of 157 schools with a 1,722 (top six archers combined) out of a perfect 1,800. Rylan Luttrell shot a 292 for 14th place and Gweneviere Carroll finished 18th with a 288. Reese Churchill and Sabrina Painter each posted a 283 and Cody Shaw fired a 281.
Hillsboro Junior High finished 14th among 147 middle schools in the 3D competition. Eighth graders James Kimbrell-Cave (286) and Jackson Betzold (285) posted the highest scores on their team for 18th and 25th place.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine. If you have story ideas, e-mail ogmjohnw@aol.com, and you can find more outdoor news and updates at johnjwink.com.