The first arrows of the year will fly for a pair of local archery teams when Washington hosts their season opening tournament at the Demon Den Saturday.

Washington is coming off of an impressive season a year ago that saw 68 archers across the three grade levels qualify for the State shoot in Des Moines. At the State Fairgrounds, the Demons had 10 individuals finish in the top 10 of their respective divisions. For the high school Demons, Emma Helfrich was bullseye girls runner-up. Ethan Mesch was third among 12^th grade boys for the Demons in bullseye. At the middle school level, Zach Hotchkiss finished fifth overall in bullseye and third among seventh grade boys. For the Lincoln Demons, Logan Hotchkiss was third and Jayse Thorius eighth for fourth graders a year ago. In the 3D shoot, top high school performer for Washington was Hannah Lipski, seventh in the freshman girls division, Avery Marner was ninth for 11^th grade girls. For middle schoolers, Thorius was the top sixth grade boy. Zach Hotchkiss and Hunter Barnes both made the top eight in the seventh grade boys division. Addyson Neer was sixth among all fifth grade girls and Logan Hotchkiss sixth for fourth grade boys.

As a team at State, the high school Demons were ninth of 28 schools in bullseye and 16^th of 24 in 3D. The middle school Demons were eighth of 23 teams in 3D and 11^th of 28 in bullseye and the Lincoln Demons were sixth in bullseye.

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks also had a big year, sending 50 archers to State in Des Moines. Team scores for Mid-Prairie included the high school Hawks 20^th of 28 in bullseye and 17^th of 24 in 3D. The middle school Golden Hawks were 16^th of 23 in 3D and 25^th of 28 in bullseye. Top high school individual’s included Elijah Statler in 3D placing 22^nd, Sophia Puttman led the Golden Hawk girls in 61^st. In bullseye, Averi Janecek was the top Mid-Prairie girls placing 34^th and Landon Kuenster led the boys in 39^th. At the middle school level Lael Seale led the way for the Golden Hawk girls, finishing seventh in 3D and Nickolas Kelley was 31^st for the boys. Lael Seale led the girls in bullseye, taking 15^th and Noah Coblentz was 46^th for the top boys performance. For the elementary Hawks, Joshua Seale was seventh in 3D and 30^th in bullseye for the boys and Blair Northup was 71^st for the girls.

The scores from the Seales qualified them for Nationals in Louisville Kentucky where Lael finished 181^st out of more than 3000 girls competing and Joshua was 51^st out of more than 800 elementary boys.

These two local teams will be joined Saturday by Marion, Mount Vernon, Van Buren and Williamsburg. Action continues all day Saturday at the Demon Den in Washington.