Archery Team Impresses At State Meet, Awaits Status On National Competition

ECHS Archery Team members prepare to shoot at the state competition held in Louisville.

Edmonson Voice Sports
The ECHS Archery Team continued to impress as they finished well in the NASP State Tournament in Louisville this Monday. According to head coach Chris Shelton, the team shot their best match yet, finishing somewhere in the middle of 62 total teams, and hopefully well enough for an invitation to the national tournament in May.

Some may see "middle of the pack" as a little non-eventful, but not if you know the background of this team. Shelton began with this team only a couple years ago, and the team has turned heads ever since the first meet.

"It's unheard of," he said. "There are some surrounding county programs that have been together longer that haven't advanced as far as we have. Our team really shouldn't be as far along as they've gotten."

Coach Chris Shelton goes over strategy between shoots.

The top Edmonson County shooter for the boys was junior Nate Wilson with a score of 278, while the top girls' shooter was freshman Rebecca Childress with a score of 271.

"This year, they've continued to grow," said Shelton. It's been amazing, and there's even interest from Campbellsville University's archery coach with some potential scholarship opportunities. That's just unheard of for a second-year program."

Shelton said they won't find out if they've made it to the national competition until mid April, but until then, they're going to continue working hard.

"We're going to keep practicing and improving," he said. "We're going to try to host our own tournament at home on April 30th. We've got great kids and we're just going to keep on having fun."