(by Don Meador, March 3, 2022)
The youth archery program in the Allen County School District will send 72 archers to Louisville on Friday, March 11 to compete in the Kentucky NASP® State Tournament.
Started several years ago, the NASP® program for Allen County archers gives youngsters interested in archery the opportunity to develop and sharpen their shooting skills. From November to February, the young archers practice weekly and can also participate in area NASP® events. In late February, the top 24 archers (based on scoring) in each NASP® division are selected by Allen County archery coordinator Tracy Butler to participate in the state tournament.
This year, archers from the Allen County Intermediate Center selected to take part in the elementary division at state include Carson Bates, Jamie Brown, Tanner Brown, Anderson Byrn, Bentlee Cline, Holly Ditlevson, Ty Elmore, Eli Fisher, Corbin Ford, Hagen Gammons, Alayna Hart, Blake Hayes, Landry Moore, Owen Painter, Anna Rossetter, Colton Sanspree, Elena Shockley, Isiah Smith, Alexa Stovall, Levi Tabor, Ryan Thacker, Eli Towe, Madison Vick, and Braxton Willoughby.
Sixth graders from the Allen County Intermediate Center are also eligible to compete in the NASP® Middle School Division. This year’s archers competing are Jordyn Alderson, Aubry Blankenship, Gabriel Blankenship, Kaylee Dickerson, Melia Emery, Bryce Fields, Brae Gann, Scarlett Gillilan, Izaiah Johns, Brookelynn Keen, Mason Keen, Dani Miller, Nikeisha Payne, Tanner Reid, Parker Rossetter, Silas Schwartz, Emma Spears, Camden Steenbergen, Gabriel Thacker, Bryson Threet, Leo Travis, Bryson Weaver, and FaithAnna Williams.
The James E. Bazzell Middle School archers competing in the middle school division at state include, Aiden Blankenship, Will Cannon, Kaden Carter, Abigail Cheery, Madison Dickerson, Hayley Ditlevson, Carter Douglass, Jacob Farrar, James Fisher, Braxton Grizzle, Seth Harris, Braylen Hart, Brian Hayes, Clayton Jones, Isiah Law, Lexis Loggins, Tyler Marsh, Weston McCoy, Dylan Overman, Kalea Perdue, Keagan Petty, Adalyn Smith, Matthew Traughber, and JoyDale Williams.
The archers will compete in the Bullseye competition as well as the NASP®/ISO 3D challenge. The ACIC elementary archers shoot at 9:15 and 12:00, ACIC middle school archers shoot at 12:00 and 2:30, while the middle school’s flight times are 10:30 and 1:15. The state competition takes places at the Kentucky Exhibition Center.