Raceland Archery Tournament Gives Glimpse into Team and Individual Strengths
Jarrod E. Stephens
The Ashland Beacon
No matter the sport, it takes lots of practice and preparation to reach your potential. Whether you are shooting baskets or arrows, a scrimmage is the best way to find out where your skills compare to the competition. Raceland Archery recently hosted the Raceland Getting Ready for the Season 10-meter Shootout. Your typical NASP tournament consists of archers shooting a total of thirty scoring arrows. Fifteen of the scoring arrows are shot from a distance of ten meters and fifteen are shot from fifteen meters. The Raceland tournament was designed as a warmup tournament where all thirty scoring arrows were shot from ten meters. While the level of overall difficulty was not as intense, the level of competition was second to none. After the three-day tournament, individual archers and teams were awarded for their success.
In the elementary division, Raceland-Worthington Elementary took first place with a score of 3,117. Cannonsburg Elementary placed second with a score of 2,866 followed by the Summit Elementary team that finished with a score of 2,849. With the individual awards, overall elementary girl archer was Calli Bentley of Raceland-Worthington who scored 273 and was followed up by fellow teammate Lea Lizarraga with a score of 272. Third overall elementary girl was Madalyn Eastham from Summit Elementary with a score of 267. The top two elementary male archers were from Chesapeake Elementary. Collin Gertz was first place with a score of 288. Jacob Backus shot a 272 for second place while Jacob Riffe of Raceland-Worthington rounded out the top three with a score of 269.
Top team honor in the middle school division was given to Raceland-Worthington Middle School with a score of 3,185. Russell Middle School Team #1 finished in second place with a team score of 3,046. A team score of 2,754 helped East Carter Middle School to claim the third overall finish. Top middle school female shooter was Eva Thomas with a score of 278 while a score of 268 gave second place to Nevaeh Thomas of Raceland-Worthington Middle School. Isabella Johnson of Russell Middle School shot a 265 and was third overall middle school female archer. The overall middle school male division was a clean sweep by the Raceland-Worthington Middle School team. Caden Smith was first place with a score of 293. He was followed by Gatlin Stephens who shot a 292. Gabe Diamond rounded out the top three with a score of 274.
The top high school team in the tournament was Russell High School with a team score of 3,330. Second place team was Boyd County High School with 3,321. A score of 3,303 was enough for Greenup County High School to take third place. The overall high school female shooter was Rebecca Abshire from Sugar Creek Christian Academy. She scored 290. Kennedy Logan of Raceland-Worthington High School shot a 289 which earned her second-place honors. Fairview’s Alexandria Dingus won third place high school female with a score of 286. Kolter Christy of Boyd County High school shot 290 and was first place high school male archer. With a score of 289, Zachary Howard from Boyd County High School was second place. Boyd County swept the division as Isaac Adkins shot 287 which was good enough for third place.
Overall top archer honors went to Raceland-Worthington Middle School archer Caden Smith. Considering the fact that a perfect score is 300, Caden’s score of 293 is quite impressive.
The archery season is still quite young but tournaments will increase in frequency after the first of the year. While the Raceland tournament was not a state qualifying tournament, it gave participants and coaches a good look at where their teams stand. Several local tournaments will be hosted in January and will give teams the chance to compete for a spot at the state NASP archery tournament.
