Several local archery teams took to the range this past weekend to compete in a number of tournaments throughout the bluegrass.
The Mason County Royals, Fleming County Panthers and Augusta Panthers headed to Paris to compete in the Bourbon County Classic, with the Robertson County Black Devils taking part in the Joe Cochran State Farm Harrison County Invitational.
At the Bourbon County Classic, the Fleming County Panthers stood tall as the first place team, scoring a combined 3,240 with 140 tens placing them ahead of their six opponents in the tournament.
In the high school boys’ division, Carson Thomas led the Panthers, placing second in the division with a personal best 283, beating out George Rogers Clark’s Jackson Sosby for second out of 62 archers competing, with two more tens scored. Following him, was sophomore Chase Bretz at fourth, and junior Kevin Alfrey at fifth, Bretz shooting a 282 and Alfrey a 279. Rounding out Fleming County’s top five archers this division were then Landen Faris at eighth, with a score of 271, and Logan Bretz at tenth, shooting a 268, allowing all of the Panthers’ top five archers place in the top ten of the event.
In the high school girls’ division, Terri Applegate led the charge for Fleming County, putting up a 282 to place second out of 81 archers in contention. Immediately behind her, with a 281, was Mackenzie Conley taking third. Ember Fronk then shot a 274 to place sixth, with Reagan Guzman and Cheyenne Pollitt closing out the top five for the Lady Panthers. Guzman shot a personal best 260 to take 22nd, and Pollitt a 257 to take 24th.
Coming in second as a team were the Mason County Royals, putting up 3,211 points combined, with 119 tens picked up throughout the course of the event.
Senior Bryce Pollitt led the Royals in the boys’ division, with a score of 287 placing him first individually. Dalton Hargett was second in for the Royals, with a 275 placing him seventh in the division. Dillon Mitchell then shot a 269 to take ninth, Dylan Woodruff placed 11th with a 268, just one ten behind Fleming County’s Logan Bretz and Chancellor Trimble closed out the Royals’ top five, with a 259, placing 18th.
Laurelle Setters and Kimber Ferguson led the way for the Lady Royals, Setters placing seventh with a 274, and Ferguson eighth with a 273. Following them were Mary Katherine Shepherd and Evangeline Smith, both shooting 264s with eight tens, this score marking Smith’s personal best. Shepherd took 15th and Smith 16th, with Sydney Hamilton rounding out Mason County’s top five with a score of 262 at 21st.
Placing seventh as a team, the Augusta Panthers put up a combined 2,887 points, with 55 tens scored.
The Panthers’ lead archer in the boys’ division this meet was sophomore Tristen Price, shooting a personal best 256 to place 24th. Just behind him was fellow sophomore Jasper Miller, also shooting a personal best 255 to take 26th. Closing out the Panthers’ performance this meet were then Cayden Back at 30th, with a 252, Ayden Courts at 46th with a 231 and Camden Gill at 56th with a 212.
Augusta’s high school girls’ team was led by Abbey Bradford at 30th, shooting a 251 with four fewer tens than GRC’s Samantha Bogart. Nora Gill then shot a 246 to take 36th, with Adalen Gilliam and Claire Elliot both putting up 231’s wrapping up the Lady Panthers’ performance. Gilliam shot one more ten than Elliott, to take 58th, with Elliott taking 59th.
In Cynthiana, the Robertson County Black Devils placed fifth as a team at the Joe Cochran State Farm Harrison County Invitational. Robertson County put up a combined 3,096 with 80 tens scored throughout the course of the day.
Kalvin Whalen was the Black Devils’ strongest archer this meet, with a personal best 283 shot to place fifth out of 61 archers in the field. Whalen shot one fewer ten than the fourth place archer, Pendleton County’s Isaac Derico. Andrew Gray was Robertson County’s next best archer, with a 274 placing him 14th. Closing out the top five for the Black Devils were then Henry Chain at 28th with a 264, Chris Jett at 29th with a 263 and Wyatt Curtis with a 255 to take 38th.
In the girls’ division, Zoey McKay led the Lady Devils, shooting a 258 with eight tens, beating out Pendleton County’s Lily Rice by one ten to take 37th. Nicole Godsey also shot a 258, with six tens placing her 39th. Liz Murrell and Marley Emmons also tied, putting up a pair of 255s, with Murrell taking 42nd with two more tens, and Emmons 43rd. Closing out the top five for Robertson County, was Zoey Earlywine, who shot a 246 to take 53rd.
Each archer competing in these tournaments has worked hard throughout the season to improve and help their team climb higher into the standings. Several of these teams will return to the range next Saturday, Jan. 25th with numerous tournaments on the schedule. The Bracken County Polar Bears will also be back in action next week, heading to the RCS Winter Shoot, at Robertson County.
