Sixteen members of the Washington High School archery team and two elementary shooters are embarking on a trip to Louisville, Kentucky, today for the 2015 National Archery in Schools Program’s National Shoot.

At the NASP State Championship March 7th in Des Moines, Washington high school team scored 3184 points for a 13th place finish. According to Washington head archery coach Jolleen Cerka, teams who scored above 3099 qualified for the national meet. The high school archers who qualified for the national competition include: John Sands, Jade Wells, Joseph Dalziel, Kyle Basten, Alex Sinn, Grace Shafer-Smith, Kylee Porter, Chloe Schlatter, Kennedy Hyde, Jake Crider, Shelby Mineart, Jessica Hora, Levi Black, Cody Mellinger, Mitchell Driscoll and Samantha Mellinger.

Cerka says many of the high school shooters are making their second straight trip to the national shoot, which should help the group feel more comfortable inside the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, “It’s a gigantic facility and you have different things going on at the same time in the area you are shooting in.” Cerka said, “It’s not as quiet as your regular archery shoots are. We have the benefit of having the past experience of knowing what to expect, where we are going, and how many people are shooting at the same time.”

Joining the high school archery team in Louisville is a pair of fifth grader,s who are among the best elementary shooters in Iowa. Olin Wells and Kenna Rathmell both qualified for the national shoot by finishing in the top 10 in their field of competition at the state shoot.

Wells stated that performance was his best to date, recording 276 out of a possible 300 points. He finished in the top three in the elementary boys’ division. Rathmell shot a 261 in Des Moines, placing her seventh among the elementary school shooters.

The 2015 National Archery in Schools Program’s National Shoot will be held tomorrow through Saturday at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center in Louisville. Hear Cerka talk about the archery team’s trip to the national shoot on tonight’s PM Sports Page at 6 p.m. on AM/FM KCII and KCIIRadio.com and stay tuned to KCII throughout the rest of the week for updates from the national shoot.