The first shoot of February took the Washington Demon archery teams to Cedar Rapids last weekend. The Washington High School, Middle School, and Lincoln Elementary School teams participated in the Prairie Archery tournament hosted by Cedar Rapids Prairie High School. Shooters from Alburnett, Bellevue, Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, Independence, North Linn, Ottumwa, and Solon competed.

It was another program-best performance for the Washington High School team. The Demons tallied 3,351 points to win the eight-team division and bested their previous high score by 38. Samantha Mellinger posted Washington’s highest score of 293 out of a possible 300 points, taking first place out of 94 high school girls. Mellinger recorded 24 bullseyes. Griffin Wood had Washington’s top boys’ result with a 291, placing first out of 82 high school boys. Wood tallied 22 bullseyes. Mitchell Driscoll scored 290 with 20 bullseyes. Bellevue placed second overall with a score of 3,336.

The Washington Middle School team placed first out of seven teams with a score of 3,252. Bellevue finished in second place 38 points behind the Demons. Curtis Stender and Bryan Miller led Washington with identical scores of 279 with 16 bullseyes. Allison Rees had the best junior-high girls result with 277 and 11 bullseyes. The Lincoln Elementary School ranked fourth out of six teams with 2,582 points. Makynna Morgan led the squad with 242 points.

The Washington Archery teams are back in competition this Saturday at the Ottumwa Bulldogs Archery Invitational. Archers from Albia, Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, Nodaway Valley, North Mahaska, Ottumwa, Solon, and South Tama will compete. First flights are set for 8 a.m. at Evans Middle School.