By Chris Spangler
Members of the School District of Fort Atkinson Archery Team will have their sights set on Kentucky when they travel to a national competition in May.
Led by Coach Jeff Jensen, the team consists of 38 elementary, 42 middle school and 23 high school archers. They participated in the State Archery Tournament on Friday, March 22, at Wisconsin Dells.
“All of our archers brought their best effort representing our Fort community and the Archery Club at the state competition,” Jensen said. “Hard work, perseverance, focus and hours of practice really paid off. All three teams qualified for the Nationals Archery Competition on May 9th in Louisville, Kentucky.”
The Elementary/Purdy School Team took third place in the state event with a new elementary team scoring record of 2,899. The Middle School Team placed sixth, scoring 3,103, and the High School Team took 15th place with a score of 3,169.
According to Jensen, archers shoot five arrows during each of three rounds 10 meters from the target. They then shoot five arrows in each of three rounds standing 15 meters from the target.
A bullseye is worth 10 points and, in a round, a perfect score would be five bullseyes for 50 points. The total number of points that can be achieved after six rounds is 300.
Three of Fort Atkinson’s archers qualified in the top 10 statewide, which Jensen called a “big accomplishment.” Competing as individual archers at the National Archery Tournament will be:
• Arianna Liesch of Luther Elementary, who took first place in the state competition and is the 2024 Wisconsin State Archery Champion for elementary girls, scoring 268.
• Chloe Rutter of Rockwell Elementary School, who finished in seventh place with a score of 257.
• Tenely Stewart of Purdy Elementary School, who finished in ninth place, scoring 255.
Also at the State Archery Meet, high-school archers Connor Tamblyn scored 284 for 13th place and Katie Schroeder scored 272 for 39th place.
Middle-school students Owen Smith scored 276 for 19th place; Porter McGee scored 275 for 25th place, including one round in which the archer had a perfect score of 50; and Violet Jones scored 271 for 25th place.
Purdy Elementary School archers Nate Fredrick scored 253 for 13th place, Ryann Pierce scored 252 for 12th place and Clinton Durst scored 251 for 18th place.
The School District of Fort Atkinson Archery Club middle school team member Porter McGee checks out a target after shooting a perfect score of 50. The archer placed 25th at the recently held Wisconsin State Archery Tournament with an overall score of 275. McGee was one of 103 members on the Fort Atkinson team who participated in the statewide event. Contributed photo.
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