The Manual archery team hosted their fifth annual Jefferson County Shootout at Manual on Feb. 14 and 15, in order to prepare for their upcoming NASP Regional Tournament. The team came in sixth place of 13 teams. 

On Friday, the Manual team set up targets and quivers to prepare for the first flight beginning at 5. The tournament ran smoothly, and the team recognized the six seniors on the team for senior night at 7, and the tournament ended around 9. 

On Saturday at 8 a.m., Manual’s team set up and prepared for the first flight of archers shooting at 9. During flights, many archers broke their arrow rests, but they were quickly replaced. 

All flights finished early, so the awards ceremony was on time when the tournament came to an end. 

The team cleaned up in preparation to present the awards. Atherton High School placed first out of 13 teams with a score of 3323. The team was not present at the awards ceremony, so no comment could be made by the coach or team after the awards ceremony.

Manual’s team ranked sixth with a score of 3199. 

Manual’s new archery coach, Josh Hartlage hosted this tournament for the first time with the Manual team. 

“Our next tournament in Regionals, so it’s very important, so we have to work on being mentally prepared and focused and ready to bring our best,” Hartlage said.

“I don’t feel as though this was our best tournament, as we placed about in the middle of the school rankings, but I do feel that this was an important learning opportunity for our coach and the team as a whole” Jack McFarland (10, MST) said. 

The archery team will be competing in the NASP Regional competition on Feb. 22, in hopes of being in the top 100 high school teams to advance to the NASP State competition.