Benton Elementary’s Bunch crowned Elementary Girls World Champion
Archers from five Louisiana schools traveled to Nashville last month to participate in the National Archery in the Schools World Tournament and headed back home with several individual and school honors.
Against more than 4,800 international participants, three Louisiana archers won individual awards, and two schools brought home top honors.
Emma Bunch, a 5th grader from Benton Elementary was crowned as the 2015 NASP World Champion in the Girls Elementary School division. Bunch shot an amazing 292, just 8 points from perfection and beat out 669 other elementary schools females to take home the top prize.
Nathan Delill, an 8th grader from Buckeye High School, won 3rd place in the middle school boys division.
Delill was tied for 2nd place after the standard bulls eye competition, which led to a shoot-off round in front of an anxious crowd. After the first round of the shoot-off, Delill was still tied and brought the competition to a one-arrow shot.
Each archer was given one arrow to shoot from 15 meters, with the arrow closest to the center taking the prize. Both archers buried their shots dead center in the ten-ring target with the competitor’s arrow barely edging Delill’s shot.
Delill hung a 294 — just 6 points from perfect — and recorded the best score ever shot by a Louisiana NASP archer in competition.
Anna Robins, a 6th grader from Benton Middle School was awarded 4th place in the middle school girls division. Anna shot a 289 and out-shot 956 other female middle school archers, — many of them 7th and 8th graders.
Benton Elementary one again returned to Louisiana as the NASP World Champion in the elementary division for the second year in a row.
Benton Middle School was also crowned the NASP World Champions for the middle school division, the first ever middle school in Louisiana to win the crown.
Last year, Benton was the first elementary in Louisiana to ever win a NASP World Tournament. Many of the team’s shooters from last year’s elementary team were part of this year’s middle school team.
Students from Haughton Middle School and Northwood High School also attended the tournament.
All the schools that attended the NASP World Tournament are members of the Archery in Louisiana Schools (ALAS) program, which teaches NASP to students as part of their in-school curriculum. All schools in Louisiana are eligible to have the ALAS program, which is facilitated and funded by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
For information on how to start the program at your school, email Robert Stroede here, or call him at 318-484-2276.
