The Stone Memorial High School, Crab Orchard Elementary and middle school Archery Teams will compete in the Nationals beginning Thursday in Louisville.
All three schools qualified for 3D and Bullseye Archery, with Stone Memorial finishing first place in team 3D at the state competition. Stone Memorial Archery Coach Nathan Thompson said it was not easy winning the states for the second year in a row.
“We won the state last year in 3D, and we were trying to repeat that this year,” Thompson said. “We lost several good archers that we had on the team last year, some to graduating, and some just decided not to do it anymore, and we were lucky enough to get a few freshman and some people that haven’t done it and were able to compete.”
Thompson said his team will compete against an estimated 15,000 archers. Thompson said nerves may be high, but he said he will have his team ready to go.
“I’ll just try to get them to be calm and think about it as a local tournament around Crossville, or Cookeville, or White County, and try to stay calm and shoot like I know they can shoot,” Thompson said. “I mean, I’ve seen them all shoot since December and I know what they can do.”
Thompson said competing at nationals is a great opportunity and believes students will remember competing at nationals for the rest of their lives.
“They need to soak it all in and enjoy it also,” Thompson said. “They need to enjoy this opportunity because they are not guaranteed this opportunity every year. You have to score so high and do so well to get to go to this, so they definitely need to enjoy it.”
Thompson said the team will compete in individual and team-based competitions. The 2025 NASP US Eastern National continues through Saturday.
