Archery brings best to nationals

Going up against nearly 12,000 participants, the Washington Archery team went to Louisville, Ky., over the weekend, and came away with some impressive standings.

The national tournament, which featured nearly 200 teams from across the country, was held from May 7-9, and the Demons found themselves shooting one of their best scores of the season.

The score of 3,277 put the Demons at 80th overall in the nation, and a senior led the way individually for the team.

Kyle Basten shot his personal best in the final high school meet of his career, putting together a 284, placing him 176th in the nation for high school boys.

The mark puts him 41st out of the 371 senior boys competing and 11th for Iowa competitors.

Basten was joined by sophomore John Sands, who also shot a 284, but finished with fewer bull?s-eyes than Kyle. The mark put him at 195th out of the top high school boys, and 58th for high school sophomores. He was 13th among Iowa boys? competitors.

Sands also had a nice showing in the 3D Animal Target shoot, putting together a score of 283 to put him in 32nd among all high school boys. He was seventh place among all sophomore boys and fourth among Iowa high school boys.

Junior Joseph Dalziel shot his personal best at the national meet, putting together a round of 279. The mark was good for 378th overall, and 93rd out of all junior boys.

Leading the charge for the girls? side was junior Jade Wells, who put together a national score of 276, which put her in 295th place out of the high school girls, and 83rd out of high school junior girls.  She was 10th among Iowa girls? competitors.

Grace Shafer-Smith followed Wells with a 273, putting her in 395th place, and 82nd out of all sophomore girls? competitors.

In the middle school event, Mitchell Driscoll had a score of 274, putting him in 375th place among his peers, and 162nd among all high school boys.

Sammy Mellinger had a personal best at the meet, putting together a score of 272, good for 370th in the middle school girls? competiton. The score put her in  116th among all seventh-grade girls and 14th among Iowa middle schoolers.

Olin Wells was strong in the elementary competition, shooting a 272, putting him at 93rd in the national elementary shoot. He was 75th place among other fifth-grade boys and fourth among other Iowa elementary boys.

Wells also shot in the 3D Animal Target competition, putting together a score of 259. That put him in 44th out of all elementary boys, and 36th among fifth-grade boys.

Kenna Rathmell had a 233 at the meet, putting her in 794th overall in the girls? elementary competition and 22nd among Iowa girls.