Over 40 students calmly walk to retrieve their bows at the sound of a beep. They then form a long, even line that runs from one end of the basketball court to the other. The air, which had previously been filled with country music, now had the sounds of soft “thunks.”
Gradually, the line thinned out until there was one young girl, her hair pulled into a dark ponytail. If she was bothered by being the last archer, it wasn’t obvious. While the others lingered along the sidelines, either talking among themselves or to their parents or watching, she stood calmly staring at the target 10 meters away.
She raised her bow, pulled the string back taut, and took a few breaths before letting the arrow fly.
This was just one of many flights held during the fourth annual Stroud Archery Tournament. For bullseye, coach Lacey Echelle said they did one per hour from 8 or 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the coliseum, while a 3D tournament run by Centershot went on at Parkview from about 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., so as to not interfere with drop off and pick up.
The tournament has grown rapidly in just the first few years of its existence. Stroud Coach Jennifer Young said she couldn’t remember how many archers showed up the first year, but last year they had 590. This year, they had 47 schools with 64 teams and 904 archers, expanding the tournament from two to three days.
Young said the biggest obstacle is working around the school’s other activities and sports - not just because their archers also participate in them, but because they sometimes share the same space. However, it also comes with rewards.
“Seeing the archers improve in focus and skill throughout the season, their recognition of improvement in those areas and knowing they are gaining on the ultimate goal of going back to nationals, and growing closer in supporting each other are just a few of the many rewards,” she said.
Stroud had 53 archers from fourth to 12th grade participating in the tournament, which ran from Dec. 12 to 14. They added a high school team this year, which Young and Echelle were excited about.
“Our archers are working hard, making the adjustments necessary to be more successful and getting stronger both physically and mentally. It’s a great start to the season,” Young said.
This is the first year for Prague’s archery team to participate in the tournament. They brought 36 of their 40 archers, according to Assistant Coach Robina Coffey, who joined the program at the beginning of this school year along with Head Coach Amanda Camren.
Coffey said their archers have doubled from last year, with more students participating in their sixth through 12th-grade program.
“Our goal for this tournament is to expose our archers to as many tournaments as we can to improve their skills and to help with qualifications for the state tournament in February,” Coffey said.
In team standings, North Rock Creek came out on top in high school, with McLoud in fourth and Stroud in ninth. For middle school, North Rock Creek took third, McLoud ranked fifth, Stroud was 10th, Meeker 11th, and Prague was 15th. North Rock Creek stood at the top of elementary standings, while Stroud ranked fifth.
For individual rankings, Caden Eyestone from Chandler stood at the top of the high school boys division, followed by Tatum Manning-Smith and Brayson Sercy from North Rock Creek in fifth and sixth, respectively, and Tristen Munn from North Rock Creek in eighth. On the girls side, Courtney Grace from North Rock Creek ranked second in high school and teammate Kadence Munn followed in third. McLoud archer Megan Barnes followed in fourth with Carlee Williams from Stroud ranked sixth.
McLoud had two boys in the top ten in the middle school division - Eli Osbourne ranked fourth and Langston Ellison ranked 10th.
For the elementary division, North Rock Creek had four boys in the top ten - Riot Williams (2nd), Chevy Hammons (3rd), Jon Wood (5th) and Austin Freeman (6th). They also had three in the top ten for elementary girls - Brailee Chance (1st), Lillian Borden (5th) and Clara James (10th).