In preparation for the state archery tournament to be held February 26th, St. Mary's Catholic School attended an invitational tournament held in Gladewater, Texas last week.  Union High School in Gladewater held its first archery tournament in which five schools attended.  There were approximately 250 students, grades 3 through 8,  who competed.  St. Mary's, who took about 50 students, had a great showing. 

In the primary category, which is 3rd grade only, St. Mary's placed first overall in the team category and had students in 2nd through 8th places in the individual category:   Jesse Flynn 2nd, Tonya Sanchez 3rd, Jared Miller 4th, Duke Jarvis 5th, Luke Miller 6th, Emily Adlof 7th, and Ryan McNamara 8th.  In the Elementary division, which is 4th through 6th grades, St. Mary's came in third place as a team and had three students in the top 6 as individuals:  Jordyn Wedell 2nd, Charlotte Huckestein 3rd, and Carter Khoury 6th.  To be noted, Jordyn Wedell shot the same score as the winner but the tie break comes down to the amount of bulls-eyes that each student shoots.  She just had fewer 10's than the winner.  And lastly, in the Middle School division, which is 7th and 8th grades, St. Mary's placed first as a team and had three students in the top 8:  Mary Claire Cogbill, Jonathan Maniet, and Emily Kirkpatrick all shot a 252 out of 300, with Mary Claire shooting 6 bulls-eyes for the highest rank of the three.

This is the largest group that St. Mary's has ever taken to a tournament.  With this being only the third year that archery has been offered at the school, St. Mary's has set the standard quite high having placed 2nd in the state last year.  The program continues to grow and to be extremely successful under the leadership of Nathan Wieck and Bill Cogbill.