More than 130 archers from eight different schools from across the region competed in the final tournament at Wilbanks Middle School. The tournament began on Friday February 23 and finished up at around noon on Saturday February 24.
The students that participated in the tournament were between the grades of 4 through 12. The tournament was the final opportunity for the archers and teams to qualify for the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) Eastern Nationals tournament, which will be held in Louisville, KY in May.
Habersham County had five schools that participated in the tournament. Stephens County had two schools participate. The only school from outside the area that participated in this tournament was Sugar Hill Christian Academy from Gwinnett County.
The table below demonstrates the schools that participated in the tournament with the team scores and the top male and female archers and their scores from each school. Individual scores can be found here at nasptournaments.org.
The top male archer in the tournament was Jack Akridge, a 5th-grade student from Fairview Elementary School. Akridge scored 270 out of 300, ranking #1 out of 78 male archers and #1 overall out of 135 archers in the tournament. Akridge’s score was the highest score out of all three Wilbanks’ tournaments.
Lewis Phillips, a 7th-grade student from North Habersham Middle School, missed tying Akridge for the top spot in the tournament by one point with a score of 269. He ranked #2 overall in the tournament.
The top female archer was Bianca Moreno, a 7th-grade student from Wilbanks Middle School. Moreno scored 266 out of 300, ranking #1 out of 57 female archers and #3 overall in the tournament.
Eastern Nationals qualifying
In order to qualify as a team for the Eastern Nationals, teams must have a minimum of 12 members. Of those 12 members, there must be a minimum of four boys and four girls.
Also, teams must exceed a minimum score based on their division. Elementary school teams must have a team score that exceeds 2,499. Middle and high school teams will have difficulty qualifying. The scores that must be exceeded to qualify are much higher.
Middle school teams must have a score that exceeds 2,999, and high school teams must have a score that exceeds 3,099.
Teams may select the highest score they received during the three tournaments held at Wilbanks Middle School as their qualifying score for the Eastern Nationals.
Of all the schools that participated in the three Wilbanks tournaments, only two schools received a qualifying score to be considered for the Eastern Nationals tournament in Louisville, KY.
Out of the three tournaments held at Wilbanks Middle School, Hazel Grove Elementary School qualified with a high score of 2,797. Fairview Elementary School qualified with a high score of 2,757.
Pre-registration for Eastern Nationals will open on March 4 for coaches to enter their teams in the Eastern Nationals.
