Submitted by Luke Peters
William E. Hay archery coach
The National Archery in the Schools (NASP) provincial tournament was held at the Edmonton Boat and Sportsmen Show, and Stettler was in the mix.
Hundreds of competitors from across the province attended, competing both as teams and individuals.
William E. Hay Composite High School of Stettler sent a team of 16 archers, plus five individual shooters from grades 9 to 12, to compete at the high school level.
This was the first year Stettler has had a NASP archery program. It was brought in late last spring by Luke Peters, a teacher at William E. Hay.
Each student shoots five arrows in a round, with a maximum of 50 points in a single round. There are three rounds at 10 metres, followed by three rounds at 15 metres for a total of 30 arrows, or 300 points.
Then the archers with the best 12 totals from the team have their scores added together for a final score out of 3,600.
The William E. Hay archery team scored 2,911 points, getting third place in the high school category.
Individual shooters of note were Will Roberts and Shannon Hammond.
Roberts is in Grade 9, and shot 284 out of 300, the third-best score in the province for any shooter of any age.
Hammond, in Grade 11, tied for third in the high school female category with 264 points.
Ryan Ponich placed sixth in the high school male category with 268.
It was a fantastic showing from a first-year team — one the athletes hope to improve on next year.
There may be a bit of a rivalry going now between Stettler and Castor, as Stettler’s team finished with six more points than the Gus Wetter team, which went to the worlds in Orlando last year.