Mercer archery headed to World Tournament
Mercer County’s archery team has come a long way over the past year.
When the team started in the fall of 2013 they had only 28 student-athletes. Fast forward to this season and they have 84, ranging from the third to 12th grade.
“Our first year, we only had only 28 kids. The whole year, we only won one third-place trophy. Out of 13 tournaments, we had only one individual and no team trophies,” said Mercer County archery coach Jerry Makin. “We had two kids go to state and one kid (Levi Patton) go to nationals.”
This year is a completely different story.
The team has taken home several trophies in their tournaments, as well as competing in the state and national competitions.
Now the team will advance to the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) World Tournament, which will be in Nashville, Tenn. July 23-25 at the Music City Center.
“To the world tournament we are taking 26 students,” said Makin. “We have a bullseye tournament and a 3-D tournament that we will be competing in.”
Although Makin expected more success this season than last, even he has been surprised by just how much the young team has accomplished.
“We had no idea we would go this far. We started the season in October and we would typically be done in April, but we are still going strong,” said Makin.
