One of the top high school archers in Louisiana, in fact THE top high school 3D archer in 2024, finds his comfort zone in a sport where muscle memory makes a difference.
“One of the things I like about archery is anyone can do it,” Evan Moore said in mid-February.
The Airline High School senior knows first-hand what it takes to be successful in the sport … “a lot of training and patience.”
“You can kind of stop thinking and rely on muscle memory,” he said.
A big win
The 17-year-old archer depended on that as a junior on Feb. 24, 2024, on his way to a first-place finish in the Archery in Louisiana Schools State Archery 3D Tournament in Alexandria. Despite a cold that kept his head stuffed up and aching, Evan shot his highest score ever, a 290, to emerge as the best on the line that day.
“I’ll be honest. I wasn’t expecting to do well,” he said.
In fact, Moore left the tournament site with his mother, Erica Moore, soon after he shot and long before the awards presentation.
To his pleasant surprise, a teammate, Jadon Stephens, called from the venue to say he had accepted the state championship award for Moore. “My friend said, ‘You got first place!”
“We honestly did not expect that,” Erica Moore said. “It was a nice surprise. He’s a really good friend … and he FaceTimed.”
She called her youngest son “a natural talent.”
Evan said he was feeling so out of it that day that he just went with the flow.
“It was a free weekend. I was sick that day. I didn’t have anything to worry about, so I focused on my goal,” he said about winning all the hardware plus a scholarship worth $3,000.
Evan has yet to exceed that 290, his PB, and that’s what’s driving him the second half of the 2024-25 season before he graduates from AHS. His older brother, Eric, also competed on the Parkway High School archery team before graduation with the AHS Class of 2018.
Looking ahead
Moore and the Airline High School Vikings enjoyed a great beginning to 2025 by capturing the North Regional Archery Tournament in early January inside the Bossier City Civic Center. Teammates David Anderson, Cooper Blair and Carla Mitchell knocked down Perfect 50s.
Evan started the new year self-admittedly “disappointed” in his defense of the 3D state championship. He shot in the 270 range. But he has bounced back just fine in the past from subpar results, he said.
“I really do enjoy the sport. It has its challenges sometimes,” he said, adding if he has a bad practice, he usually shoots a lot better the next day.
Practice? He works on his game on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays at AHS. He practiced often at home for the longest time in the backyard, he said, until he shot out the middle of the target. And he practices occasionally at Hoot & Holler Archery, where the owners, Chip and Kathleen Hemphill, are widely known and highly regarded as premier coaches.
Evan, whose father, Col. (Ret.) Eric Moore, retired after a long career in the U.S. Air Force, first picked up a bow and arrow while earning an archery merit badge during a Boy Scout summer camp (he earned his Eagle Scout award later at age 15). He liked archery so much he shot some more during gym class at Stockwell Elementary School, which further whet his appetite.
He began shooting competitively at Cope Middle School and continued at AHS under the tutelage of Valerie Kirchoff and Rachel Mooney. As of mid-February, he was undecided on whether he’ll compete after high school or take a hiatus. Perhaps, he said, if the college he chooses has club or intramural archery, he’ll take aim again and step to the line.
