Caleb Sallinger keeps upping his scores at high school tournaments
Ten years ago, an Alexandria boy picked up a bow and arrow for the first time and has since become one of the top competitive archers in Louisiana.
Caleb Sallinger, who lives with his grandmother, Diane Sallinger, in Alexandria, remembers his dad gave him a compound bow from a friend that was small enough for him to handle and shoot at age 5. Then he dipped into archery for about a year with his dad.
His archery tournament career started when he found out about archery at his elementary school, extended into middle school, then his freshman year at Bolton Academy. Sallinger burst onto the state spotlight Feb. 21 when he finished first among all freshmen archers and second overall in the 2026 ALAS 3D State Tournament. He shot a 288 that special day.
“I like 3D,” he said. “The atmosphere of it isn’t quite as competitive as Bullseye. I like that part of it.”
He attributes any success he has enjoyed so far to practice and concentration.
“I wouldn’t say I really do anything special to concentrate,” he said. “I just focus on the target.”
Sallinger usually practices for an hour twice a week with the rest of the Bolton Academy team. At the time (late February), he said the Bolton archers were practicing daily due to all the tournaments on the calendar in February and March.
Growing and improving
The 15-year-old student/athlete credits his first archery coach for teaching him the correct shooting form at Peabody Montessori Elementary School.
“She first taught me how the tournaments work,” he said. “Then she taught me the fundamentals of doing it as a sport. There was also a problem I had at first. When I’d release at first, I’d move my arm to the side and she taught me not to move to the side.”
Sallinger’s overall game steadily ramped up, particularly during the next few years at Scott M. Brame Middle School.
“I would say that in middle school I really started improving,” he said. “I’d say that at Brame, that’s whenever I popped off.”
Going into high school, Sallinger’s personal best tournament score was a 275. He erased that high mark in his third high school tournament as a freshman when he fired a 285 to beat all other freshman boys on Nov. 17 in the J.I. Barron Winter Tournament in Pineville. He also was third among 64 high school boys and fourth among 381 boys competing that mid-November day.
A few weeks later, his 277 gave him another first in the freshman field, second out of 17 in the high school field and second overall out of 193 on Dec. 2 at the Panther Shootout at St. Francis Cabrini School in Alexandria. Sallinger made it three wins in a row against other freshmen on Dec. 12 with his 281 at the Glenmora 3D Winter Tournament.
Sallinger stayed on a roll to emerge first among 15 freshman boys three days later at the J.I. Barron Christmas Classic. He was fourth among all high school boys as well as overall in a field of 130 boys.
Personal best
Sallinger’s highest-ever score to date is 291, his new PB, he got it on Jan. 30 during the Oak Hill Bullseye Tournament. He was No. 1 out of the 11 ninth-grade boys, ranked first among 28 high school boys and first overall among 206 boy archers.
That 291 score served as an incentive, one of several personal goals, to shoot even higher the rest of his freshman season.
Sallinger’s biggest strength when he picks up his bow at a tournament is blocking out the noise, so to speak. That’s one reason he’s partial to the sport, one he plans to assist his younger sister, Kieran, 9, when she gets into it next year.
“It helps build, like, focusing skills, specifically tuning out outside noise,” he said. “If people aren’t playing any other sports and just want to know what it’s like, I like to think archery is good to figure out and you’re playing for a team.”
Also, he said, he has met many high school student/athletes.
“It’s always interesting to meet them and see what they do different,” he said. “So far they’ve been pretty nice.”
