LFU to Compete in State Archery for Scholarships

by Ronnie Zamora/LFCISD

It’s not common to see archery in a school cafeteria, but that’s been the scene after classes end at Los Fresnos United this school year.

A new archery club was started for the opportunity to compete for scholarships. Now, a group of 16 will take part in the 14th Annual Texas-National Archery in Schools Program (NASP) Schools State Tournament Thursday and Friday at the Bell County Expo Center in Belton.

The freshman and sophomore students. will have the opportunity to earn scholarships up to $4,000 at the indoor competition, depending on place.

They were invited the state competition for state after a regional qualification in January. The entire team – made up of 10 boys and six girls – qualified.

On the state level, a record high 3,107 students from 131 schools participated in the qualifying tournament and 88 percent of them made the minimum score. About 2,600 students are expected at state.

Three LFU teachers – Ashley Park, Rolando Ocañas and Jaime Valdez – volunteered to organize the club, which has been meeting twice a week after school for most of the school year. When the archery club formation was announced at school, more than 100 students showed up for the first meeting.

Tryouts were held to pair the team down below the maximum of 24 students.

There are other invitational tournaments but the LFU team has not taken part in them. “Starting off, we wanted to qualify for something,” Valdez said. “You never know – somebody could qualify for the national competition.”

Students shoot to targets from 10 meters and 15 meters. The center target is worth 10 points, and the points decline toward the outside of the target. There are five shots in a round and a perfect score is 50.

“When I first heard about the school starting an archery club, I was so excited,” said sophomore Leah Brown. “I was just hoping to make state and now it’s going to happen.”

“It’s going to take a 49 or higher to win state,” said sophomore Megan Allen who received her first archery set as a Christmas present as Brown did. “This is a great opportunity for all of us to get scholarships – and we’re only sophomores.”

The LFU team had to reach a minimum qualifying tournament scores for teams were 2,665.