The opening arrows of the year will take flight for two local archery squads when Washington hosts its season launch tournament at the Demon Den this Saturday. Washington is coming off an impressive previous season, which saw 68 archers across three grade levels qualify for the State shoot in Des Moines. During the events at […]
The opening arrows of the year will take flight for two local archery squads when Washington hosts its season launch tournament at the Demon Den this Saturday.
Washington is coming off an impressive previous season, which saw 68 archers across three grade levels qualify for the State shoot in Des Moines. During the events at the State Fairgrounds, the Demons had 10 individuals secure spots in the top 10 of their divisions. For the high school Demons, Emma Helfrich placed as the bullseye girls runner-up, while Ethan Mesch secured third place among 12th grade boys in bullseye. In the middle school category, Zach Hotchkiss achieved fifth place overall in bullseye and third among seventh grade boys. For the Lincoln Demons, Logan Hotchkiss took third, with Jayse Thorius finishing eighth for fourth graders last year. In the 3D shoot, the leading high school performer from Washington was Hannah Lipski, ranking seventh in the freshman girls division, and Avery Marner came in ninth for 11th grade girls. Among middle school participants, Thorius was recognized as the top sixth grade boy, while Zach Hotchkiss and Hunter Barnes both made the top eight in the seventh grade boys division. Addyson Neer placed sixth among all fifth grade girls, with Logan Hotchkiss also claiming sixth for fourth grade boys.
As a collective at State, the high school Demons earned ninth place out of 28 schools in bullseye and 16th out of 24 in 3D. The middle school Demons finished eighth of 23 teams in 3D and 11th of 28 in bullseye, while the Lincoln Demons secured sixth place in bullseye.
The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks also enjoyed a remarkable year, sending 50 archers to State in Des Moines. Team scores for Mid-Prairie featured the high school Hawks placing 20th out of 28 in bullseye and 17th out of 24 in 3D. The middle school Golden Hawks landed 16th out of 23 in 3D and 25th out of 28 in bullseye. Top individual performers from high school included Elijah Statler in 3D at 22nd, with Sophia Puttman leading the Golden Hawk girls at 61st. In bullseye, Averi Janecek was the top girl from Mid-Prairie at 34th, and Landon Kuenster led the boys with a 39th place finish. At the middle school level, Lael Seale topped the Golden Hawk girls by finishing seventh in 3D, while Nickolas Kelley was 31st among boys. Lael Seale also led the girls in bullseye with a 15th place performance, whereas Noah Coblentz took 46th for the best boys’ result. For the elementary Hawks, Joshua Seale ranked seventh in 3D and 30th in bullseye for boys, while Blair Northup came in 71st for the girls.
The Seales’ scores qualified them for Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky, where Lael finished 181st out of over 3000 competing girls, and Joshua placed 51st out of over 800 elementary boys.
This Saturday, these two local teams will be joined by Marion, Mount Vernon, Van Buren, and Williamsburg. The action will continue throughout the day at the Demon Den in Washington.
