Hillsboro High School archers brought home two first-place trophies from the National Archery in Schools Program (NASP) Eastern National Tournament May 11-13 in Louisville. Representing nearly 700 schools, archers from throughout the eastern United States submitted more than 20,000 scores, and the top team totals in both the bullseye and 3-D competitions were posted by the Hawks.
Before getting to the astonishing individual numbers, grasp the magnitude of these. Sixty-eight Missouri schools participated among the 190 elementary schools, 240 middle schools and 253 high school teams for a total of 14,079 archers in the bullseye competition.
The best team score among the 253 high schools was the 3,453 posted by Hillsboro. The scores of the top 12 archers on each team are combined for a maximum possible score of 3,600. Hillsboro Junior High scored 3,325 to finish in eighth place in the middle school division, and George Guffey Elementary School in the Fox C-6 District was the fourth-best elementary school program with a score of 3,189.
In the bullseye contest, archers shoot for a maximum score of 300.
Hillsboro High had an astonishing 18 shooters score 280 or higher. Scott Hartenberger’s 294 ranked 16th out of 2,510 high school shooters. Other top Hawks included Autumn Watson (291), Peyton Willeford (290), Blake Moore (290), Richard Wiethop (289), Reese Churchill (288), Natalie Jaeschke (287), Leya Pogue (286), Briley Vontalge (286), Sam Pierce, Caleb Quigley, Alexis Hahn and Shelby Kohler (all 284), Gavin Formann (283), Trenton Fink (283), Adalynn Painter (282), Austin Morgan (280) and Colton Gronborg (280).
Seckman High posted the 69th best score among the 253 teams with a 3,296. Dylan Pinson and Hannah Eskew were the top shooters for the Jaguars, both totaling 282 out of 300.
Windsor High finished 202nd, led by freshman Owen Saeger’s 281. Fox High (221st) featured ninth-grader Mason Cook with a 282 and sophomore Semir Mujic, who shot 281.
Top bullseye shooters from Hillsboro Junior High were Rylan Luttrell (290), Nolan Hahn (284), Olivia Heine (282), Audrey Weber (282), and Logan Partney (280). Noah Medeiros had the highest score on his Ridgewood Middle School team at 284, which placed him at 69th of 2,787 archers in the division. The Seckman Junior High team placed 86th out of 240 teams, with Jackson Phillips and Sara Balding both shooting 278 out of 300.
The top shooters from Guffey Elementary were Jaxon Throop (284), Olivia Joggerst (282), Reese Bruns (273), Grace Gilligan (272) and Melvin Jackson (270). Lena Anderson, a fifth-grade student at Lonedell Elementary School, had the highest score on her team at 275, good for 18th out of 1,814 archers in that division. Elise Watkins from Meramec Heights Elementary shot 272, which was the second-best score among 620 fourth grade students in the competition.
The International Bowhunting Organization (IBO) 3-D Challenge welcomed 6,434 shooters from 190 high schools and 156 middle schools. Hillsboro High was the best again with a score of 1,731. The Hawks had nine archers score 280 or better: Moore (292), Willeford (291), Hartenberger (290), Kohler (288), Watson (286), Pogue (284), Cody Shaw (284), Jaeschke (283) and Churchill (280).
Hillsboro Junior High archers finished fourth, posting a team score of 1,634. Luttrell had the highest score on the team at 292, which ranked him fourth out of 1,340 middle school boys. Caleb Greiwe shot 281 to finish 38th in the field.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and is the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine. If you have story ideas for the Leader outdoor news page, e-mail ogmjohnw@aol.com, and you can find more outdoor news and updates at johnjwink.com.