Story by McKenna Rex
West’s archery team recently placed second at the state competition.
Tim Wieland is the archery coach at West and has lead his team from regionals, to state and now to nationals. Weiland said “We had 8 of the 12 scores that were personal bests, so that’s pretty remarkable to have that many archers shoot above their average.”
Wieland said a challenge with archery can be target panic. “That’s when the number 1 opponent is yourself what happens the brain gets in automatic mode, and it see the target and it can cause you to jump, it can cause you to drop your arm,” he said.
Freshman Isabelle Smith, who is on the team, said “At state this year I got 5th place and that was the best I’ve ever done before. My high score [in competitions] was a 283, and I was so happy about that.”
Smith began archery in sixth grade and was on the Summit Lakes team.
Junior Christian Durst has been on the archery team for 2 years. Durst said, “I placed 3rd in high school boys.” Durst’s personal best is 291 in competition and 293 in practice. Both Durst and Smith said that they will continue being on the archery team next year.
The LSW Archery team plans to continue on, Wieland said, “I’ve go my own kids coming up through the program.” Wieland said he plans on sticking around as the coach.
Smith and Durst will continue on as well on the team and strive for their best. Both Durst and Smith said that they too will continue archery next year.
The LSW archery team will head to nationals where they will have the opportunity to qualify for worlds.
