The archery teams from the James E. Bazzell Middle School and the Allen County Intermediate Center competed Friday and Saturday at the NASP® Region 4 tournament in Bowling Green. Several archers from both schools posted personal best scores in the final regular season archery event of the year. 

   Archers from the Bazzell Middle School posted a score of 2,980, their highest score of the season. The score placed Bazzell ninth among the 14-team field. The Intermediate Center archers recorded a team score of 2,491 to place sixth in an eight team field.

   Individually, sixth-grader Ryan Wolfe shot a personal-best 278 for Bazzell Middle School. Wolfe’s score was fourth in the middle school division in the 162 male archer field. Wolfe also recorded the second highest score among the sixth grader male participants in the region. Among female archers for Bazzell, sixth-grader Quinn Hartman notched a score of 246. Her score was a personal best and placed her 55th among the 151 female archers at the middle school level.  Hartman was 14th among the 59 sixth grade girls participating. 

   The top eighth-grade scores in the regional event among Bazzell boys included a 268 from Cole Meador, a 259 from Caelan Fox, and a 240 from Gabriel Oshefsky. For seventh grade girls, Shelby Hughes fired a 190 and Amber Smith shot a 174. High seventh grade boys scores include Wessly Butler (252) and Daniel Brown (241). In addition to the scores of Wolfe and Hartman, sixth grade boys’ top scores included Travis Jackson (262) and Landon Witt (261). Sixth grade girl archers and top scorers included Gabby Corbett (239), and Erin Penny (204). 

   In the elementary division, the ACIC archers were led by Owen Talbott and Madison Gaddis. Talbott finished with a personal-best score of 255, finishing ninth in the 127-archer boys’ field. Talbott was eighth among fifth-grade boys.  Gaddis also fired a personal-best score of 219 to place 30th among the 130 female archer field and seventh in the 45-archer field among fourth grade girls.  

   Additional Region 4 top scores for ACIC archers included, Taylor Uhles (200) and Madison Dickerson (188) in fourth grade girls with high fourth grade boys scores including Aiden Blankenship (214), Hunter Clayton (207), and Matthew Traughber (193). Among fifth grade girls, best scores for ACIC were Hayley Ditlevson (217), JoyDale Williams (186), and Maylee Westmoreland (178). Fifth grade boy scores also included Caden Meador with a 245 and Weston McCoy with a 212.

   According to archery coach Tracy Butler, archers will learn this week if Bazzell Middle School and the Allen County Intermediate Center will qualify for the state NASP® tournament, March 15 and 16, in Louisville. Team qualification is based on overall regional scores. If the schools qualify, Butler will select the top 24 archers from each school (and alternates) and the archers will start practicing for the state event. Preparation will include a pair of warm-up archery competitions at Warren East and Todd County Central prior to the state competition.