‘Shot in the Park’ Archery Tournament Saturday At The Highlands
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WHEELING - A popular regional archery tournament is expected to attract more than 900 school students to Ohio County this weekend.
The sixth annual "A Shot in the PARK" Archery Tournament is slated to begin its first round of shooting at 9 a.m. Saturday at The Highlands Sports Complex. The last round of shooting is at 3 p.m.
Students in grades 4-12 participate, and about 905 archers representing 60 schools from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia have registered to attend, according to retired physical education teacher Rick Thomas, the coach of the Ohio County teams.
Last year's event previously set the record for attracting the most students when 668 archers turned out for the event.
Thomas pointed to another sign archery is growing among Ohio Valley schools. Archers from St. John Central High School in Bellaire will be competing in their first tournament, as will those from Oak Glen and Paden City high schools.
Teams from Charleston and Hurricane will be the archers traveling the farthest to "Shot In The PARK," and another will be coming from Zanesville.
Among the students registered are eight seniors who will be recognized in a ceremony at 11:45 a.m. Last flight of archers will shoot at 4 p.m., and an awards ceremony is set for 5:30. Awards will be given to the top seven in both the boys and girls categories at each grade level - elementary, middle school and high school level.
The public is invited to come watch the event. Admission is $5 for adults and is free to school students who want to come cheer on their classmates.
Money raised during archery events helps the host school in purchasing new targets and arrows. The more successful the archers become, the more new targets and arrows are needed, according to Thomas.
Thomas noted that while many may think of archery as a "man's sport," the numbers at "Shot In The PARK" do not reflect that. Of the 905 entrants, there are just 37 more boys than girls registered.
"At the middle schools, a lot of times the girls are shooting better than boys," he explained. "The girls develop faster, and have better hand to eye coordination. A lot of times the girls will do better."