Archery teams begin full competition schedule
After a month of practice, Pierce County 4-H archery and shooting teams have begun a full schedule of tournaments at venues throughout North Dakota.
Archery Coach Travis Lafferty said the young Pierce County archers “seem to like” the sport. Lafferty and the archery team members traveled to Cando on Feb. 26 for one of several competitions.
“Watford City was the 22nd of January,” Lafferty said, listing Pierce County’s first competition on the schedule. “Then, the 29th, we had Minot. That’s where most of our team shot their first tournament.
“We have Cando this week and then March 5, we’re in Bismarck. March 11 and 12 we go to West Fargo. Then, April 2 will be the luck of the draw. March 21 we’re going to have the satellite for (the Fargo tournament) in Rugby. Then, state will be April 9,” Lafferty said, listing events on a busy archery competition schedule.
“We’ve been practicing since January but we’re just starting to get into the tournaments now,” Lafferty added.
Lafferty said the 4-H Shooting Sports program is open to youth age 8-18.
“We opened shooting sports up to everybody this year,” Lafferty said. “We’ve got a lot of new kids coming in. We have about 40 kids. Our team members are mostly from Rugby.”
Lafferty said he liked coaching the Pierce County 4-H team. “I come from Pembina County and I coached archery there.”
“They’re a good group,” Lafferty said of the Pierce County beginners and juniors he coaches. “They’re willing to put the work in and they really enjoy it and it’s a lot of fun. They really enjoy it, and that’s the most important part.”
Junior team member Raegen Hager said, “I’ve been on the team three years. It’s fun.” Hager, a student at Rugby Middle School said she was “doing okay” in the Cando tournament.
Beginner Elijah Williams said, “It’s my first year, but I’ve shot before.”
Williams added, “Archery is good. (Practice) is a lot shorter than I thought it would be because I used to be in hockey and football, and that would be like an hour and a half. But archery’s only like sometimes an hour long.”
“It’s really fun and I get to shoot with my sister a lot of the time,” Williams, a fourth grader at Ely Elementary School added.
Williams’ sister, Aliyah, earned first place in the junior freestyle division of the tournament. Also placing in the top 10 for Pierce County were Zach Selensky, Hager, Luke Arnston and Seth Kuhnhenn. The Pierce County junior team of Aliyah Williams, Hager and Zach Selensky placed first among teams in the competition. Also shooting in the junior freestyle competition were Matthew Arnston, who placed 18th and Paisley Wangler, who placed 27th.
In the beginner freestyle competition, Pendleton Wangler placed 15th, Levi Selensky placed 21st and Elijah Williams placed 19th.
In the senior freestyle event, the Pierce County team of Ryleigh Keating, Monica Yoder and Haylee Heilman took first place. Keating placed sixth overall, Yoder placed eighth and Heilman placed ninth overall. Also earning ranks were Rylee Geiszler, 11th place; Alyssa Peterson, 13th place and Mya Barker, 16th place.