Young Archers Shoot Away At National NASP Tournament

More than 500 Georgia students from more than 25 schools traveled north to compete in the 12th annual National Archery In Schools Program (NASP) tournament. The event took place May 7-9 at the Louisville Exposition Center, and with more than 12,000 young archers competing, this is the world’s largest archery tournament. Archers from 42 states competed in the event.

For the third straight year, two Georgia elementary archery teams placed in the top five in the nation. Cohutta Elementary missed the national title by a mere 12 points, placing second in their division with a score of 3,227. Two-time national champion, Woodlawn Elementary, also competed in the event.

“The team made the medal stand by shooting a 3,223 to finish third out of 148 elementary schools,” said Woodlawn Elementary Archery Coach, Brad Bates. “There was a record-breaking attendance of 12,045 archers at the year’s event.”

Two other Georgia elementary schools also finished near the top. Bethlehem Elementary came in ninth, and Bay Creek Elementary rounded out the top 12. Bay Creek Elementary was the only school in the tournament to qualify two teams for the event.

With a score of 3,303, Loganville Middle School placed 12th in their division, and North Murray High School finished 23rd in their group with a score of 3,356. Roughly 150 to 200 of the top teams in the country were in each division.

The top overall male shooter at the 2015 Georgia NASP State Championship, Morgan Graham, from Dodge County, finished sixth nationally in the high-school male division shooting a 295. He was the top 12th grade male at the competition but fell three points short of the national title.

Haley Bagley, from North Murray High School, Georgia’s top female shooter at the state level competition, finished with a 291 and was the top 10th-grade female at the tournament.

Woodlawn Elementary had one of their own finish first in her 4th-grade division. Mattie Nuckolls shot a score of 280.

Cohutta Elementary claimed second place in the NASP IBO 3-D challenge, a separate 3-D archery tournament held during the tournament.

NASP, an in-school archery curriculum, promotes instruction in target archery to improve the knowledge in shooting sports. It is given throughout a two-week period during the school year. The program made possible for all students, no matter size nor gender, to participate thanks to NASP universal fit bows. It is currently taught in 47 states with more than 12 million students participating in the program.