After hosting the largest regional archery tournament and adding two more tournaments to their quiver this month, the Wetaskiwin Composite High School (WCHS) Sabres archery team are on target for provincials on March 20.
Although in archery there is no qualification required for provincials, the Sabres are in good form to take on the challenge.
"We have a really strong team this year so I'm pretty excited about how they're doing," said Sabres assistant coach Keith Duncan.
"They're shooting really well and supporting each other nicely."
The grades 9 to 12 school currently has 22 members on its archery team.
On March 1, WCHS hosted its annual regional archery tournament.
"We had over 450 archers registered making it the largest regional archery tournament below provincials," said Duncan.
A total of 29 schools across the province that attended, including local archers from WCHS, Clear Vista School, Sacred Heart School (SHS), Pigeon Lake Regional School (PLRS), Falun School, Northstar Millet Homeschool and Gwynne Valley Rural Academy (GVRA).
Among the top scores were these Wetaskiwin archers:
WCHS
- Joey Dickmann shot 271, 3rd place Gr 11 boys
- Sareen Martens shot 266, 2nd place Gr 11 girls
- WCHS team came in 3rd place with combined score of 3115
Falun School
- Chase Bolton shot 241, 2nd place Gr 5 boys and 2nd place elementary division
GVRA
- Jenny Kohut shot 279, 1st place Gr 8 girls and 1st place middle school division
PLRS
- Grayson Monea shot 253, 2nd place Gr 7 boys
SHS
- Logan Risto shot 270, 2nd place Gr 8 boys
The Wetaskiwin archers attended the Ardrossan Bison's 8th Annual Bullseye Tournament on March 8.
- Caleb Strohschein shot 286, a personal best, 3rd place Gr 11 Boys
- Jacob Yantha shot 276, 3rd place Gr 12 Boys
- Dahlia Berube shot 272, 1st place Gr 10 Girls
- The team scored 3231 placing 3rd in High School Division
Clear Vista
- Delilah Doerrsam shot 258 a personal best earning 1st place Gr 6 Girls
GVRA
- Jenny Kohut shot 286, 1st place Gr 8 Girls and 1st place middle school girls
PLRS
- Grayson Monea shot 259, 3rd place Gr 7 Boys
- Sam Strohschein shot 275 a personal best, 3rd place Gr 9 Boys
Notable personal bests:
- Carter Crawford 264, Dreyen Deschamps-Miller 264, Oliver Caissie 247, Aimee-Lynn Yantha 269, Mylee Streeter 263, Madisyn Chawner 233, Bentley Bull 218, MacKinley Hartmann 173, Julie Borduzak 139, Marley Doerrsam 87, Riley Welch 266, Makayla Peters 243, Hannah Moonias 200, Wyatt Nielsen 197, Amy Visschedijk 147.
The reason why the sport of archery has gained such popularity in the County of Wetaskiwin is largely due to Sabres head coach Kelly Kijewski, said Duncan.
Kijewski brought the sport to WCHS in 2016/17.
At first, the governing body - National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) - allowed them to invite students from other schools to join their team, but when that changed within the last few years, the Sabres coaches (Duncan, Kijewski and Tiffany Johnson) began supporting other local schools to start up their own programs.
"It's just been growing since then," said Duncan, adding there are now seven teams in the county.
WCHS has also helped to set up archery programs at Sacred Heart (Grades 5 to 9), Pigeon Lake and Falun, as well as a home school team at GVRA..
Duncan is also the head coach for Clear Vista's team, which has grades 5 to 8 and feeds into WCHS.
Another reason archery has been growing in the area is because the Sabres coaches run an archery program in Millet in the off season, said Duncan.
That program is inclusive and any youth can participate, regardless of which school they attend. The kids are introduced to the sport and when they become interested in having a team at their school, it has led to other programs being started, he said.
"Almost every year, we start a new program," he said.
The Sabres competed at the Millstone Annual Tournament in Spruce Grove from March 13 to 15, and will travel to Edmonton for provincials from March 20 to 22.
The 2025 NASP National Tournament is to be held at Wetaskiwin Co-op Place May 8 to 10.
