freshare.net
By Oklahoma Dept of Wildlife Conservation
05-25-2009Students from Oklahoma claimed two individual national championships and several other high standings at the National Archery in the Schools Program National Tournament May 8-9 in Louisville, Ky.
Kolt Perkins of Zaneis Elementary School near Wilson took the 6th-grade boys national championship and was the highest scoring elementary student with 292 points out of 300 and 23 bullseyes. The bullseye at the center of the target is about three inches in diameter. Perkins outscored 1,006 other elementary students to claim the first place spot and become one of the first two Oklahomans to win a National Archery in the Schools Program national championship. Perkins’ score also was the highest ever achieved by an elementary boy in the history of the national tournament.
Perkins’ mother, Kelly Sue Perkins, said the Archery in the Schools program has helped her son succeed.
“We just want to thank the schools for putting the archery program into place here,” she said, adding that Kolt “has accomplished so much” by participating in archery at Zaneis.
Perkins’ father, Kelly Lee Perkins, said archery as well as hunting has always been a pastime for Kolt.
“He’s always played with bows and arrows instead of baseballs,” he said.
The other Oklahoman to claim a first-place win was Meredith Noland of Chickasha, whose score of 278 and 12 bullseyes was enough to claim the 4th-grade girls national championship and fifth place among all elementary girls. More than 600 elementary girls competed.
Oklahoma also was among the top states in attendance at the shoot, with 206 shooters out of nearly 5,000 from across the country in attendance. Thirty-two states and Canada were represented at the shoot. Oklahoma students qualified for the national competition based on their individual and team scores from the Oklahoma Archery in the Schools State Shoot held in April at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma Archery in the Schools Program, administered in the state by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, is part of a national organization that introduces students to the sport of archery, in which students of all athletic abilities can learn and excel.
“It’s quite an accomplishment for Oklahoma to bring home a national championship in just its fifth year of offering the program,” said Colin Berg, education supervisor for the Wildlife Department. “Not only is this young man a gifted athlete, but he had to work hard at this sport to get this far, and this is just the tip of the iceberg for Oklahoma’s involvement in this program. It has grown from small roots over the last five years to more than 180 Oklahoma schools participating in the program now. I’d say we have a lot more national championships that Oklahoma students will be bringing home in the future.”
In addition to first place wins claimed by Perkins and Noland, other Oklahoma elementary students placed high in their categories.
Brooks Bush of Chickasha Elementary took 5th place in the 5th-grade elementary boys category with a score of 279 and 14 bullseyes, and Hailey Pilkenton and Hadlie Barnes, both 5th-graders at Greenville Elementary, tied with scores of 277 and 13 bullseyes each. In a shoot-off, Barnes claimed fourth place. Haylie Douglas of Chickasha placed 6th in the 5th-grade girls category with 273 points and 14 bullseyes.
In the middle school division, two boys scored in the top 15 out of 880 shooters. Danny Phillips of Maryetta Junior High in Stilwell placed 10th with 287 points and 19 bullseyes, and Will Gibson of Chandler placed 12th with 286 points and 18 bullseyes. Hannah Lawhorn of Keystone School near Sand Springs scored 32nd in the middle school girls division, with 275 points and 13 bullseyes.
High-schoolers also scored well, taking home a 32nd and 35th place out of 926 shooters in the boys category and a 54th place out of 588 in the girls category.
Taylor Gibson of Chandler High School placed 32nd in the boys category with his score of 287 and 18 bullseyes, and Houston Gaither of Coweta High School placed 35th with 286 points and 20 bullseyes. Tiffany Thompson of Coweta High School placed 54th in the girls category with 274 points, which included 14 bullseyes.
Back in April, 1,085 students from 93 schools across the state gathered at the Cox Convention Center for the Oklahoma Archery in the Schools State Shoot to wrap up a season of archery practice and competition at their respective schools and to determine qualifiers for the national shoot.
The number of students at the state shoot reflects the growth of the OAIS program during its five years of existence. This year’s state shoot saw an increase of more than 300 students over last year’s shoot and almost 600 more students than were present in 2007. The state shoot also has grown so much that the Wildlife Department was forced to move it from the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond to the Cox Center to accommodate more shooters.
“The great thing about this program is that so many kids can get involved and become very skilled at the sport of archery, which is something they will be able to do for fun for the rest of their lives,” said Lance Meek, Oklahoma Archery in the Schools coordinator for the Wildlife Department.
The state shoot is the season finale for the OAIS program, and qualifiers move on to the national shoot in Louisville.
The Archery in the Schools curriculum is designed for 4th-12th graders and covers archery history, safety, techniques, equipment, mental concentration and self-improvement.
More than 180 schools across the state have enrolled in the Oklahoma Archery in the Schools program, which offers archery to students, and grant money can make it easy for other schools to join up as well.
“Thanks to a Wildlife Department grant, schools can now get involved in the program for a fraction of the cost of the equipment,” Meek said.
Partial grants are available for schools to acquire all the equipment, including bows, arrows, targets and safety nets necessary to begin an OAIS program in their communities at little cost, and curriculum and training also are available through the Wildlife Department.
In order to be eligible for a grant, the school must send a teacher to an eight-hour workshop where they will learn how to conduct the program at their school and instruct students in archery.
Teachers interested in learning more about the OAIS program or in starting an OAIS program at their school should contact Meek at (405) 522-4572 or , or contact Colin Berg at (918) 299-2334 or