A 15-year-old Haughton teen helped usher in the first state archery tournament featuring more than one discipline by bringing home the 2024 Shooter of the Year title on March 9.
The Haughton High School archer stepped up to the line and turned in a dominating performance as a freshman in the 2024 Archery in Louisiana Schools (ALAS) State Bullseye Tournament. Zoe Bayne’s overall score of 294, reached by combining each archer’s regional scores with state Bullseye and the new 3-D scores, topped all other female archers and secured a scholarship worth $3,000.
“It’s such a great honor, and NASP is such a wonderful program, especially ALAS for letting us learn so much through archery,” Bayne said. “I’m so appreciative for all they have taught me.”
Bayne’s no stranger to winning state titles. As a middle schooler at Haughton Middle School, she won the 2022 ALAS State Bullseye Tournament.
Two years later she did it again during the large, prestigious meet held in Alexandria. Bayne and 30 other student athletes received scholarships and gift cards worth more than $17,000.
According to the LDWF’s Chad Moore, state manager of the ALAS program, “This is the most scholarship and prize money we’ve been able to award at the state championship tournament. We’re grateful to all of our sponsors for their support, and to the National Archery in Schools Program for its $15,000 match.”
It started in P.E.
Bayne, the daughter of Scott and Zondra Bayne, looks forward to at least three more years of competition in archery tournaments. She welcomes the challenge to build off her latest accomplishment after six years in the sport.
It all started when she was a fourth grader at Princeton Elementary School in Bossier Parish, where that grade level’s curriculum for P.E. included archery shooting in class.
“You had to shoot in class to make the team,” she said. “I ended up making the team. I didn’t even tell my parents … it didn’t cross my mind.”
Bayne picked up the sport naturally and quickly.
“I love it, just the discipline, all the things it taught me. I’ve met so many fantastic people and met many friends through archery,” she said. “I thank ALAS for the program, especially Chad Moore. I’m very thankful for that.”
One of the biggest fans of the expanded state tournament format was Bayne.
“Personally, I like 3-D. It’s a lot of fun but I like both,” she said about the conventional bullseye and 3-D.
Bayne confided the extra thrill of 3-D target shooting fueled her run to the Shooter of the Year title at the recent state meet in Alexandria.
“I wasn’t stressed,” she said. “I had so much fun doing that.”
The top three shooters in each division received a plaque and gift card in the inaugural International Bowhunting Organization Indoor 3-D Challenge.
“This is something we are trying this year, with a variety of targets,” Moore said. “We have traditional game animal targets, including bighorn sheep, deer, turkeys, elk and bears, as well as some specialty targets like a skunk, a lion and an armadillo.”
The fundamentals
Bayne’s father, a former bowhunter who hung up his big game bow and equipment two years ago, acts as her coach during practices in the family’s backyard. He stresses fundamentals and mechanics during each practice routine, she said, appreciatively.
“This year I haven’t practiced as much as I have been,” she said. “I practice every other day. I practiced almost every day in the seventh and eighth grade. I just got a little busier.”
Her shooting got even better following the 2024 ALAS Bullseye Tournament. A few weeks later at Benton Intermediate, Bayne fired her best-ever score, a 297.
“That was a very cool thing for me to keep coming back” and doing well, she said, adding she surprised herself by notching that PB at the Benton competition.
With three years remaining before graduation from HHS, Bayne has kept an open mind on the future for college. She has thought about options, which might extend her archery career in college, but that’s a long way down the road.
