Archery In Schools State Fun Shoot

300 kids and their coaches, parents and support staff traveled to the National Fairgrounds in Perry for the second-annual State Fun shoot. Youth Elementary School from Loganville won the right to travel to Louisville Ky. for the National Shoot May 10.

Youth Elementary School in Loganville won the National Archery in the Schools Georgia Fun Shoot Elementary division title Feb. 9 at the Perry Fairgrounds. Brian Hobbs coaches Youth Elementary.

The state Fun Shoot, coordinated by Wildlife Resources Division (WRD), is an annual event open to all schools enrolled in the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP).

Youth Elementary’s score of 2,481 at the second-annual state Fun Shoot qualifies the school for an automatic berth to the NASP national tournament May 10 in Louisville, Ky. Team division winners from more than 40 states will vie for scholarship money and other prizes at the national tournament.

Dakota Owens of Youth Elementary won the top elementary male archer award with a score 247. Youth Elementary’s Claire Dittman won the top elementary female archer award by shooting a 141. Reed Power (231) and Walker Cothran (230) placed second and third, respectively, in the elementary male division for Youth Elementary. Rachel Brackett (138) finished second, and Trina Duncan (126) placed third in the elementary female division.

More than 300 archers throughout the state registered for the annual shoot-out. Teams of 16 to 24 students from each school competed in three separate divisions – elementary (4th-5th grade), middle (6th-8th grade) and high (9th-12th grade).

Marion County Middle School in Buena Vista and Bishop Hall Charter School in Thomasville won the middle and high school team divisions, respectively.

Newcomer Bishop Hall Charter School from Thomasville took top high-school honors.

For the second year in a row, Marion County Middle School won the Middle School competition.