State Tournament Shows Big Interest In High School Archery
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- If this year's numbers are any indication, archery is a sport growing in popularity among high school students.
This year's State Archery Tournament took place March 20-21 at Champlin Park High School. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which hosted the event with the National Archery in Schools Program, featured 1,313 archers. In their first year, they had just 67. This year marked the 11th State Archery Tournament.
Kraig Kiger, who oversees the Archery in the Schools Program for the DNR, said that growth reflects a booming interest in recreational archery.
St. Croix Preparatory won the team competition at this year's tournament and Grand Rapids came in second. Allison Shorter of New Prague won the individual title in the girls competition, and Wesley Joarnt of St. Croix Preparatory won the boys competition.
Officials said in all, nearly 200,000 teacher-reported students in the state participate in archery. About 10 percent of those are in after-school programs that develop into a competitive team.
It's not known if or how soon the Minnesota State High School League could make it a sanctioned activity with a state tournament.