27 archers headed to Utah

Local archers are gearing up for the NASP Western Nationals in Sandy, Utah, as the NR-S archery program continues its most successful year ever.

At the state tournament in Minot, the entire NR-S middle school team brought home the program’s first-ever team championship, and Layton Jacobson defended his state championship in 3D archery for middle school boys.

Six other individual archers also performed extremely well, bringing the total number of NR-S archers who qualified for the NASP Western Nationals to 27.

That makes this season the most successful in the program’s 7-year history, and head coach Mike Schaefer credits the group of kids and their hard work for the team’s success.

“The team did fantastic,” he said. “This is probably one of the best bunch of kids that I’ve worked with. … This whole year has gone really well. We have a good group that has represented New Rockford-Sheyenne and the school really well, both in how they’ve done and how they’ve behaved and represented their community.”

Schaefer said he’s anticipating that every student who qualified for nationals will make the trip to Utah for the tournament, which takes place April 28 and 29. That means considerable transportation, hotel and meal costs.

To help raise money, a fundraiser is being held at the New Rockford Eagles Club on Sunday, April 16 from 5 - 7 p.m., and the entire community is invited to attend and enjoy the meal.

On the menu will be delicious pulled-pork sandwiches, as well as salad, chips and cookies courtesy of the Eagles Club. Drawings for the raffle will also be done at the fundraiser.

A few of the prizes on offer include $500 and $250 gift cards to North American Bison, a $500 cash prize, a 20 lb. hamburger bundle from Collier Farms, a $250 food gift card to the New Rockford Eagles Club, and much more.

The money raised will go toward costs associated with traveling to and staying in Utah for the weekend, as well as a required entry fee for each student.

Schaefer said he doesn’t yet know the schedule of events for nationals, but said he would be posting the schedule and flight times on Facebook as soon as they’re available.

This time a year ago, only Layton Jacobson, Fisher Genre and Koy Zieman represented NR-S at the NASP Western Nationals. Jacobson shot a near perfect score of 295, defeating all 755 male archers in attendance to be named the best male archer in the nation.

Jacobson hopes to defend his national championship later this month, and 26 other local archers will be looking to make statements of their own.

Above all, however, the goal is to enjoy the experience of competing on a national stage.

“I just hope everybody gets an opportunity to shoot, that they have a good time and that everybody tries their best,” said Schaefer. “Whatever comes from that will be a win either way.”