The Mount Vernon Archery Club proudly welcomed school teams from Iowa and surrounding states to Iowa’s Largest and Best NASP Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 4, to Cornell College’s Small Indoor Sports Arena. Twenty-seven schools, over 800 archers and about 2,500 spectators witnessed a spectacular scene of 60 targets and over 100 archers spread in a line on the arena floor shooting some of the best competition of the season.

The Mount Vernon Club didn’t just host a commanding performance behind the scenes but on the arena floor as well.  All three Mount Vernon teams captured tournament honors and 3 Mustang archers received top awards.  The elementary team (4-5th grade) captured 3rd place with 2378.  The high school team (9-12th) was tournament runner-up with 3247. The middle school team (6-8th grade) was tournament champion for their division with a team score of 3236.

All three individual awards came from the middle school archers.  Rachel Lochner shot a 271 and placed 3rd for middle school girls.  Christian Tanberg shot a 277 and placed third for middle school boys.  Conner Meyers placed 2nd with a 280. Top archers for Mount Vernon in the elementary division were Anna Nydegger (girls) and Keean Kamerling (boys). Drew Keller, Macon, and Whitney Woods were top archers for Mount Vernon in the high school division.

“Our archers have been learning and improving their archery and teamwork skills over the past 2 months”, claims Coach Wilkinson, “Both the middle school and high school teams are very strong and our new elementary team is very eager to learn.” 42 archers shot their personal record at Cornell.  Our success will continue as we work on personal improvement, teamwork and service.”

This is the second year for the tournament at Cornell College and teams from all over had nothing but positive feedback about the community involvement and the venue.  On more than one occasion, visiting coaches asked whether the state tournament could be held in Mount Vernon.  Thanks to the work of many tournament organizers and about 100 volunteers, many teams are eager to return again to Mount Vernon and Cornell College.

The Mustang Archers will help support the Whitetails Unlimited Banquet that is being held in Lisbon on Friday, January 10th and compete in a tournament in Alburnett on Saturday, January 11th.

Tournament Leaders:

Chris Hallier, Sandy Tanberg, Marcia Barnhart, Crystal Shannon, Lea Snedden, Ron Lochner, Chuck Hallier, Rich Hall, Doug Shannon, Charlene Vig and Tom Wilkinson

Mount Vernon Archery Coaching Staff:

Beth Johnson, Chris Hallier, Dave Hof, David Garrelts, David Tanberg, Doug Shannon, Chuck Hallier, Jeff Friedman, Kevin Conley, Laurie Keller, Marcia Barnhart, Rich Hall, Ron Lochner, John Maddock, Lea Snedden,  Sandy Tanberg, Darin Vig, Todd Vlasek, Kieth Woods, Tom Wilkinson

Individual results

Elementary division

High school division

Middle school division