A total of 3,554 students filed into middle and high school gymnasiums across Arkansas last weekend to take their shot at qualifying for the Arkansas National Archery in the Schools Program State Championship. Regional shoots were held in 12 locations, covering every region of the state.
Of the student athletes participating, 1,564 were female and 1990 were male. ANASP is one of the few scholastic sporting activities where young men and women compete side-by-side.
Curtis Gray statewide ANASP coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission says the program continues to be extremely popular with students from elementary- through high school level.
“When we had our first state meet 11 years ago, we had a little over 750 students come shoot,” Gray said. “Now we have more than 3,500 competing in regional tournaments, and that’s only a fraction of the schools who participate in the program.”
Gray says roughly 550 schools teach Archery in the Schools curriculum at some point during the year, which is close to 50 percent of all schools in the state. There have even been 42 invitational tournaments prior to this year’s regionals at schools who have embraced the program.
The top two teams from each division at each regional tournament will move on to the state championship. The remaining 12 slots will be filled by the highest-scoring teams who did not place first or second, no matter which regional tournament they participated in.
“We have had some extremely strong teams stay home because they were in very tough regions, while others who did not score quite as well were able to go to the state championship because the competition in the region was not as close,” Gray said. “With the new format, each region will be represented well, and the best archers will have a chance to compete based solely on their merit.”
In addition to team competition, the top shooters at each regional tournament will be invited to compete at the state championship individually for additional awards.
“Usually, the top individual archers will be on a team that gained a berth at the state tournament, but there are some who really stand out even though their team had a bad day,” Gray said. “But we have individual awards available at the state tournament so the top archer in each division is recognized, no matter what team they are on.”
The state championship will be held at Bank of the Ozarks Arena in Hot Springs, March 1-2. Elementary and middle school divisions will shoot on March 1, and the high school competition will be held March 2.
Visit https://www.agfc.com/en/anasp-app/ for complete team and individual scores for each region.
In addition to the top two teams from each region, the following teams received at-large bids to attend the state championship:
Elementary School Qualifiers
Old High Middle School 5th Grade 2,667 Arkansas Arts Academy Elementary 2,606 Bergman Elementary 2,861 Valley Springs Elementary 2,796 Eagle Mountain Magnet 2,892 Southside Southerners 2,816 GCT Elementary 2,853 Valley View Intermediate 2,720 Charleston Elementary 2,883 Pottsville Fifth Grade Apaches 2,783 Barbara Hildebrand 2,779 South side Bee Branch Elementary 2,689 Bryant Elementary Hornets 2,612 Bryant Collegeville Elementary Bow Bandits 2,458 Rattler Elementary Archery 2,788 Vandervoort Elementary 2,618 Hill Farm 2,964 Glen Rose Elementary 2,345 Emerson Elementary 2,615 Taylor Elementary 2,550 Blue Steel 2,684 Hamburg Elementary 2,597 Omaha Elementary School 2,714 CCES Archers 2,668 Hillcrest Elementary School 2,639 Searcy County Elementary School 2,598 McNair 5th Grade 2,574 Cooper Elementary School 2,561 Sulphur Rock Magnet School 2,558 Homeschoolers on Target 2,471 Cedar Ridge Elementary School 2,379 Blevins Elementary School 2,317 Carlisle Elementary School 2,311 Jasper Elementary School 2,309
Middle School Qualifiers
Woodland Junior High 3, 052 Arkansas Arts Academy Middle School 2,860 Alpena Jr. High School 3,283 Bergman Middle School 3,262 Batesville Junior High Pioneers 3,255 CCMS Archers 3,070 GCT Middle School 3,179 Valley View Jr. High 3,059 Pottsville Junior High 3,138 Charleston Middle School 3,046 South Side Bee Branch Middle School 3,050 Maumelle Stingers 3,034 Des Arc Eagle Archery 3,090 EPC Junior High 2,616 Bryant Middle School 3,188 Bethel Middle School 3,089 Rattler Middle School Archery 3,113 De Queen Cubs 2,975 Glen Rose Middle School 3,000 Poyen Jr. High 2,453 Barton Archery 3,249 Taylor Middle School 2,941 Crossett Middle School Eagles 2,984 Hamburg Middle 2,983 Valley Springs Middle School 3,114 Hillcrest Middle School 3,053 Jasper Middle School 3,034 Omaha Middle School 3,029 Cabot Jr. High North 2,969 Wickes Middle School 2,968 Washington Middle School 2,920 Emerson Middle School 2,898 Perryville Middle School 2,896 Cabot Jr. High South 2,884 Fordyce Middle School 2,863 Jr. Hornets 2,861
Senior High School Qualifiers Arkansas Arts Academy High School 2,978 Providence Academy Senior High 2,970 Alpena Sr. High School 3,315 Bergman High 3,300 Batesville High School Pioneers 3,247 Pangburn High School 3,082 GCT High School 3,277 Valley View Sr. High 3,207 Waldron High School 3,150 Pottsville High School 3,116 Cabot High School 3,304 Cabot Freshman Academy 3,213 Augusta 2,459 Mustang Archers 2,435 Bryant Hornets 3,193 Oden Timberwolves 3,128 Rattler Senior High 3,252 Acorn High 3,229 Glen Rose High School 3,100 Ricebird Archers 823 Taylor High Archery 3,155 El Dorado Wildcats 3,098 Hamburg High School 2,945 Drew Central High School 2,139 Valley Springs High School 3,280 Omaha High School 3,200 Parkview High School 3,183 DeQueen High School 3,155 Charleston High School 3,110 Brookland High School 3,082 Fordyce High School 3,060 Maumelle High School 3,038 Southside High School 3,027 Vilonia High School 3,026 Jasper High School 2,935 Robins Hoodlums 2,891
