The Mount Vernon Archery Club competed at the Iowa NASP State Championship Tournament in Des Moines on Friday, Feb. 24. Mount Vernon qualified 72 archers and 3 team divisions.

The Mount Vernon team in the elementary division captured their division championship with a score of 3103. The high school team (9-12th grade) scored a club record 3130 and placed 6th. The middle school team (6-8th grade) scored a club division high 2796 and also placed 6th.

Three Mount Vernon archers received individual honors for the Iowa State Tournament. Aubrey Vlasek placed 2nd in the female-elementary division with 267. The top two boys for male-elementary division were from Mount Vernon’s Zach Vig and Zach Perry. Vig placed 1st with 279 and Perry placed 2nd with 274.

The top high school shooters for Mount Vernon were Drew Keller with a 274, Macon M. with a 265 and Gage Lochner with 263. Whitney Woods had a 267, Yuliya Vavryshchuk had a 264 and Cheyene Yerkes had a 264 for the top girls scores. Top middle school archers Alex Abresch scored a 265 and Nathaniel Barnhart (boys) scored 259.

At the Iowa NASP Awards Ceremony on Saturday, Iowa NASP League and All-State Honors were handed out to teams and individuals. League standings include a team/individuals top 2 scores for the season. The Mount Vernon elementary division team was awarded 2nd place overall and Blaise Anton was awarded 3rd place overall in the male-elementary division.

All-State honors are earned by calculating from 3 scores put together: a team/individual’s top 2 scores from the league season and the team/individual’s state score. Mount Vernon’s elementary team placed 2nd for All-State team trophy and Blaise Anton placed 1st overall in the male-elementary division.

“Over half of our team’s archers shot their personal high scores at the championships,” claimed Coach Tom Wilkinson,” we broke almost every club record for team and individual scores this weekend. More importantly, we have never really focused much attention on scores and outcomes – we focused primarily on positive mental attitudes and our performance on the line.”

Mount Vernon has qualified two teams for the National NASP Championship Tournament in Louisville, Kentucky held on May 11-12th. The club is now considering a run at the national tournament and would appreciate financial support to make it possible for almost 50 archers to attend. Contact Coach Tom Wilkinson at Mount Vernon High School for more information.

Individual scores for Mount Vernon
high school division scores
Yuliya Vavryshchuk 264
Kindra Ockenfels-Houghtaling 242
Gunay Kerimova 233
Drew Keller 274
Whitney Woods 267
Macon M. 265
Cheyenne Yerkes 264
Charlie Bootsmiller 258
Joe Godfrey 254
Sam Smith 252
Nat Klein 248
Drake Spersflage 239
Kayla Burkart 233
Kathleen Bevans 232
Nick Bowen 228
Mitchell Wirfs 225
Jacob Light 200
Keanan Shannon 182
Gage Lochner 263
Kari Tanberg 245
Grace Niehaus 232
Everett Thompson 201
Dylan Pitts 177