Lowndes 4-H Archery Team Wins Nationals

Members of the national-champion Lowndes County 4-H archery team take time to pose with their medals and a Georgia flag after winning the National Shooting Sports Invitational in Nebraska in June. Members of the team are: (from left) Coach Dale Cribb, of Valdosta; Brent Hritz, of Hahira; Ethan Pickles, of Madison, Fla.; Jantz Jenkins, of Madison, Fla.; and Garrett Hancock, of Valdosta.

In just its third year in existence, the Lowndes County 4-H senior-division archery team won the National 4-H Shooting Sports Invitational June 21 in Grand Island, Neb.

Under the tutelage of Coach Dale Cribb, the high-school-aged team was led by Madison, Fla. archer Jantz Jenkins, who took top individual archer honors for the tournament to win the National 4-H Individual Archery Compound Award. His score, along with great shooting from Brent Hritz, of Hahira; Garrett Hancock, of Valdosta; and Ethan Pickles, of Madison, Fla. helped the team beat out more than 20 other teams from across the country in total score.

Although they are from Florida, Jantz and Ethan were allowed to compete with the Lowndes County team because their local 4-H program does not have an archery program. The team qualified for the national competition after winning the Georgia State 4-H Archery Competition in Eatonton on May 10. The Lowndes County junior-division team, made up of sixth through eighth graders, also took top honors in the state, but there is no national competition for the junior division. Chase Ford of Valdosta was the top archer in the state in the junior division. Other team members were: Conner Purvis, Hunter Parrish and Michael Ingland, all of Valdosta, and J.T. Bush of Lake Park.

At the nationals, archers competed in three different competitions over three days for a combined total score. The competitions included a field round, in which archers shoot at targets placed at varying distances at different stations; a FITA round, in which archers competed under the internationally accepted format used in the olympics; and a 3-D round, in which archers shot at game-animal targets at unknown distances.