Two archery teams in Chilton County scored a bull’s-eye when they earned the right to attend the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) National Tournament in Louisville, Ky., on May 10–11.

Students on the Clanton Middle School Archery Team and the Jemison High School Archery Team will compete against others from around the country for awards and possible scholarship money for colleges with archery programs.

CMS archery coach Kelly Gaston said her team qualified for the middle school division of nationals while competing in the state archery tournament on April 4.

The CMS Archery Team also competed in the regional archery tournament in Troy in March, where the sixth graders in the elementary school division placed second overall in the tournament.

Jordan Johnson was named the top male shooter in the elementary division.

The seventh and eighth graders competed in the middle school division and took first place.

Gaston said 22 archers from CMS would attend nationals.

This is the second time the CMS team has qualified for and attended the national archery tournament; the first time was in 2009.

“They team appreciates all the support they’ve received from the community and will represent Clanton well,” Gaston said. “It’s a really big honor and a really big privilege for these students.”

For the third consecutive year, the JHS Archery Team qualified to compete on the national level.

JHS archery coach Robin Gray and assistant coach Vickki Winslett saw their team place second at the regional tournament in March and fifth at state this year.

Gray said the top 16 high schools at the state tournament were invited to compete at nationals in Kentucky this month, and 24 or her 34 archers will compete.

“They will shoot 15 scored arrows from 10 meters and 15 scored arrows from 15 meters for 300 points possible,” Gray said. “It is an activity that puts males and females on an equal playing field. I have all different types of members on this team, from cheerleaders, football players, baseball players, golf team and students who don’t play other sports.”

Gray said the team practices nearly every day for about 40 minutes.

“Because this time of year is so busy, we probably won’t be able to hold additional practice times for nationals,” Gray said. “The trip is really just an end-of-year celebration for working hard to do well at regionals and state.”

Gray said JHS is considering hosting the regional tournament next year.

Members of the 2013 JHS Archery Team are: Timothy Bragg, Ansley Bittle, Sarah Brantley, Will Campbell, Justin Caudle, Austin Chapman, Hunter Crawford, Zac Drinkard, Harley Dutton, Kayla Endress, Morgan Gilmore, Courtney Glass, Hunter Glass, Tanner Gray, Austin Hamilton, Dakota Harris, Brock Higgins, Dylan Higgins, Shane Howard, Corey Killingsworth, Will Lenoir, Keith Miller, Andrew Morton, Brett Paschal, Elaine Powell, Jacob Roop, Alex Salazar, Taylon Simpson, Morgan Smith, Brandon Stokes, Carlea Swindle, Savannah Swindle, Logan Tillery, Cooper Wilkins, Dylan Wooten, and managers Riley Herron, Conner Nason and Payton Woodruff.

Both the CMS and JHS archery teams raised money and accepted donations to fund their travel expenses for nationals.