Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie Archery Social Media

As the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk archery program continues to grow, success is not far behind. Of the 70 athletes on this year’s team, 33 are on their way to state.

High School qualifiers include Zane Fisher, Zoe Fisher, Alexa Huber, Koby Karnes, Kyla Karnes, Blake Peck, Payton Peck, Milo Sieren, Josee Mueller, Hunter Robertson, Caiden Sellers, and Paytin Swartzentruber who will all shoot in both block and 3D state tournaments. Peyton Ford, Camden Miller, Morgyn Nafziger and Kaylee Shirkey will be in the block tourney.

Middle School qualifiers include Nick Kelly, Tommy Miller, Lael Seal and Elijah Statler in both block and 3D action while Landon Kuenster, Fiona McClellen, Johnathon Pickard, Maddie Sieren, Jack Sorell, Sophia Putman and Tate Bombei will all shoot in the 3D contest.

Elementary qualifiers include Preston Ford in both block and 3D, Mya Brenneman, Gavin Luers, Morgan Northup and Joel Sellers in block and JT Anseth in 3D. This week, Mid-Prairie head coach Kent Karnes spoke about the growth of the program and their excitement ahead of state. “Right now, we have 33 archers going out of our 70. That’s just phenomenal. Three years looking back, if you would have told me that I would have thought you were crazy. It’s been fun to see. The growth has just been amazing. It will be fun to see as a team and individuals how we compete up there. It’s the first time for us too so we’re all a little nervous. I told the kids at practice ‘you know what to do you’ve shot all year long, now it’s time to bring the best out of you’.”

Both the Bullseye and 3D Iowa State Tournaments will be held this weekend on the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines.