It was a ground-breaking year for the Washington Archery team in 2014. In just their second full season as a part of the National Archery in Schools Program, several Washington archers at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels competed in the both the state and national archery tournaments this past spring.

Last season’s success has carried over into the start of this season, where the Washington Archery teams each finished in the top five in their first two tournaments of the season. The Washington High School Archery team took second place as a group with 3143 points at the Albia tournament on Dec. 13 and placed first in Washington’s inaugural archery shoot Dec 20 with a score of 3183.

A group of returning national shooters are helping get the team off to a fast start. Junior Jade Wells and sophomores John Sands and Grace Schafer-Smith have placed in the top five overall individually in their respective divisions and scoring more than 265 points in each shoot. A 300 is a perfect score.

The middle school team took fourth place overall at the Albia meet with 2872 points and placed second in Washington’s inaugural shoot finishing with 2914. The Lincoln Elementary team took home second place at the Albia tournament with 2872 points and finished in first place at the Washington shoot with 2599 points.

All three teams resume competition this Saturday at the Anamosa Tournament with flights beginning at 8 a.m.