On Feb. 7, 2017 the Paoli NASP Archery program held their second annual state qualifier for Indiana NASP Archery. The archery program is in its second year at PHS. This team shot in the state, national and world tournaments in their 2016 season.
In contrast to last year, the 2017 state qualifier was a larger event with 117 total archers from four different schools, including 45 archers from Paoli. There were four separate flights of archers starting at 5:30 pm. The last flight of shooters didn’t start until about 8:30 pm.
While the shoot was happening, the archery team sold concessions with the help of parents in hopes of raising money to help fund equipment and fees for tournaments. Combined with the ticket sales, the program made approximately $800-$1,000.
Archery Coach Kyle Woolston is hopeful for the 2017 season.
“Our archers are shooting personal bests at almost every contest we attend. They are raising their own personal bars and pushing scores out that are comparable to many established programs,” said Woolston. “We have high hopes for our team as a whole, and expect to advance to state, and eventually onto nationals and worlds.”
The highest scoring archer of the night was Lily Thompson, who shot a 282 out of 300 total points. Logan Love was the highest scoring high school male of the night with a 279/300. The highest scoring junior high female was Taylor Becht with a 260/300 and the highest scoring junior high male was Jordan Hedge with a 261/300.
The Paoli NASP Archery program was split into two teams for the 2016 season and is doing the same again for the 2017 season. The first Paoli Archery team overall ended with a total score of 3244. The second team fielded by Paoli High school shot a total score of 3005. The cut score needed to be invited to the state tournament is not set in stone, but based on the scores in years past, the first team is confident they reached the score needed to qualify. The second team is riding the line needed to qualify, but the archers are hopeful. The teams will likely shoot at the state tournament on March 11 at the Indianapolis Exposition Center. The archers hope to achieve a score high enough at the state tournament to advance onto the national tournament in Louisville, KY in May.
Story by Lily Thompson
