Elementary archers heading to national tournament

CLOVIS — A small crew of elementary school archers will represent Clovis for the second year in a row at the 2017 National Tournament next month in Louisville, Kentucky.

Among approximately 15,000 athletes registered for the competition this year, Clovis Christian Schools (CCS) will send 13 of its star fourth- and fifth-graders, as well as a few individually qualified high-school students.

The team is small, but its presence at competitions is formidable. Now in its fourth year, the program has grown from just a dozen members school wide to almost 50 across its elementary, middle, and high school teams.

“Archery is a unique sport for kids because fourth and fifth graders can compete,” said team Coach Bruce Vincent.

Not only do they compete, they excel.

A fifth-grader this year, Chloee Witton holds the school record and ranks third in the state after scoring 282 out of 300 points at the state archery competition March 11 in Albuquerque.

Witton's performance helped the team earn its second consecutive state title this year. It was also the second-straight individual state championship for Witton.

“A year ago I just started it, and I'd never done it before,” said Witton. “Then I found out I was really good at it. I don't know why. I think God just gave it to me.”

Witton, 11, is one of four returning archers on the elementary school team, as many of the others having advanced into middle school.

Statewide, coordinated archery programs are relatively young. The National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) debuted in Kentucky middle schools in 2002 and spread to other grade levels and states. It reached New Mexico in the past 8 or 9 years, said Vincent, and has grown quickly in its time in Clovis.

“It's very popular here. I believe it's the largest sport program in the school,” said Vincent. He and another coach started the program four years ago, and the support staff has since expanded to include two other teachers and two parents. The program is run by the Fish and Game Department, which had a representative in the school gymnasium Thursday afternoon helping to set up targets for the team's final few weeks of practice before nationals.

“Some of you just need some fine-tuning and some of you have some bad habits you need to break,” Vincent told the dozen students lined up in the middle of the basketball court, bows in hand. He blew a whistle and they began to shoot.

“Last year, they were always talking about how fun it was, and this is the only year I can do it,” said Kaylee Mercer, a fourth-grader.

Mercer is moving to Florida next year but wanted to take a crack at archery before she left. She shot a 262 out of 300 at the recent state competition.

The CCS elementary school team competed with 16 others at this year's state competition and beat the second place team by 60 points, with a score of 2774. Their score of 2882 last year was the highest in the entire state, beating out middle and high school teams.

Vincent said the middle school team also qualified for the national competition this year, but too many of their archers had other obligations keeping them from attending. The high school archers narrowly missed qualifying as a team, placing second in the state.

Last year, the CCS elementary schools finished 98 out of 156 teams, and they hope to meet or exceed that performance this year.

Elizabeth Warwick, a fifth-grader, is in her second year with the team.

“I joined the team because it's the only sport that we could do and it's fun,” she said. “It's fun because you get to stab the target with the arrow, technically.”