During the week of May 3-7, the Yorkton Regional High School archery team took part in the first ever National Archery in the Schools Canadian Championship.
The tournament was the first of its kind in the nation. Instead of a face-to-face competition, teams in Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Alberta and British Columbia were allowed to take part in the event virtually.
"The teams that entered the tournament had to select a specific day that they where going to shoot. At the end of that shoot, coaches needed to submit their team's scores on line," says Darren Wandy, head coach of the Yorkton squad.
All archers' scores were entered into the NASP tournament data base. The results were tabulated a week later and winners were declared.
"The reason organizers decided to host the first nation event virtually was they were not sure how many of the other school teams in other provinces would take part," states Wandy. Alberta and British Columbia recently started programs this year and Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan have been active in the program for the last three years. The YRHS group continued their winning ways over the competition. In the high school girls' category, Dina Lazurko was crowned Canadian National NASP champion. Lazurko shot a 267 out of a possible 300 points which placed her ahead of 39 other competitors. "I am extremely happy for Dina," comments Wandy.
"She has worked hard in practice to get to this point. I am glad she was able to pull everything together and win this title in her Gr. 12 year.
She is well deserving of the award and a role model for younger competitors." Carolyn Hauser finished in third place with a score of 244, Tyra Pelletier finished in fourth place with a score of 263, Lea Burnard in fifth place with a score 258, Tara Lazurko in sixth place with a score of 253, Kayla Bewcyk in 11th place with a score of 241 and Rebecca Kriger in 16th place with a score of 228. "I am very happy with the placing our high school girls attained. The great news is all of these young ladies have between 2-3 years to improve before their Gr. 12 year," Wandy points out.
In the high school boys event, YRHS student and two-time provincial NASP champ Andrew Hollinger finished in second place with a score of 272 out of a possible 300. Hollinger was in a field of 70 shooters and finished four points behind the first-place shooter.
Coach Wandy was not at a loss for words in describing the accomplishments of the Gr. 12 shooter:
"Andrew is a Gr. 12 student and has been part of the NASP program for three years. I know he would have liked to have claimed a national title for his collection, but he has achieved a lot of things in the short time he has been involved in archery at our school. He has proven to be one of the best NASP archers in the province. The remainder of the YRHS male archers were as follows: Brett Geysen, third place with a score of 268, Kenton Doupe 14th place with score of 255, Eric Pedwell 19th with a score of 249, Cole Ungar 22nd with a score of 245, Jesse Smith in 23rd spot with a score of 243 and Bradley Neuman in 37th spot with a score of 223.
The YRHS also claimed the title of the national champion for top shooting high school in the nation. The Raiders had a combined team score of 3078. The next closest team finished a world away with a score of 2831.
"The kids did really well. I am very happy for all of them. The many hours of practice have paid off. They really deserve the title," Wandy comments.
The Raider archers will now set their focus on the Worlds, the world championship of archery. It will be their second trip to the championships in as many years, which will be held this upcoming October at Disney World.
"We are very excited about returning to the championships. We will need to practice over the summer keeping our skills sharp." The team will be doing a lot of fundraising to help cover the costs of taking their team down for the championships.
The experience the team has gained through numerous tournaments has definitely gone up, unfortunately the costs required in getting there likely has too.
Wandy figures his team will likely be spending as much time with fundraising efforts as it will honing their shooting skills. He said they are looking at bringing about 16 people and the main expense of course will be the air fare.
"We are looking at taking anywhere between 12-16 people, plus coaches. Our main expense is flights, so we have to raise some funds to make the trip possible."
Anyone interested in helping the team in any way is encouraged to contact Wandy at 786-5573.
