Area archers take 1st, 2nd in state
A pair of El Dorado students outshot the field in the 2021 Arkansas National Archery in the Schools Program (ANASP) State Tournament recently. Washington Middle School's Tate Meadows and Barton's Brody Little finished first and second, respectively, in the Middle School Division, which is 6th-8th grade.
Meadows, a sixth grader, scored 291 while Little shot 289 at the state competition.
Meadows ranked first out of 366 in grades 6-8, first out of 159 sixth graders and was sixth overall out of 1,031 in boys from grades kindergarten through 12.
As a team, Washington
finished 24th at the state competition and was 18th in regionals.
Meadows won regionals with a score of 288 to win regionals, beating out 588 competitors in 6th-8th grade. He was first out of 247 sixth graders and fifth out of 1,436 in grades kindergarten through 12th.
Sadie Brewster led Washington's girls with a score of 243 at state and 248 at regionals.
The Nationals will be held virtually in May.
“Tate has done great all year,” said Washington coach Ethan Kelton. “This team has done great all year. I really feel for them in not being able to go to an actual meet because that's where all the fun is. They have all put in a lot of work practicing during and after school twice a week since the beginning of November and I really would've liked them to be able to experience that in their first year in archery.
I feel like this group is going to have a lot of success in the future in the sport. But for now, Tate and the team are going to continue to practice for this meet in May. We will also, hopefully, be able to find some more virtual meets for the students to be a part of as the year continues.”
As a team, Barton won the regionals and finished 10th in the state competition.
Little will shoot in the National Tournament as an individual with the El Dorado High School team that qualified.
“We are proud of a tradition of finishing top 10 in the state,” said Barton coach Billy Major. “We have won state the previous two years but with the snow and not being able to shoot as much as we hoped. I am proud of this group.”
Barton's other scorers at state included, Hutchinson Jackson 276, Jarrett Baker 268, Kelsey Smith 258, Tony Vartenian 258, Andrew Finch 257, Landon Winters 256, Mitchell Polk 255, Caden Bates 255, Sarah Thompson 244, Jaelynn Dumas 203 and Isabel Clark 240.