JACKSON — Starkville High School archery placed third at the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class III state championships in Jackson on Monday.
The Yellow Jackets shot 3,281 as a team, tied for third with St. Martin.
Starkville finished 12 points behind second place Germantown and 63 points behind this year’s state champion, D’lberville.
“I’m proud of them,” Starkville head coach Bubba Forrester said. “They did fairly well. We stayed in the same range we’ve been shooting all year. … It’s an experience. I enjoyed it. It was fun.”
Shooting at Kirk Fordice Equine Center, with 100 targets set up and hundreds of archers shooting at once was an intimidating environment for first-timers on Starkville.
However, once those archers were able to settle down, the Jackets started recording solid scores, led by junior Elijah Morton, who tied for top male archer in Class III with a score of 289.
“He’s been a really good archer all year for us,” Forrester said. “He really stepped up. That was really good. I was proud of him.”
Starkville came up short of a state title, but with a returning cast of archers coming back next season, including Morton, there is promise moving forward.
“We’ve got good archers building, coming through the program,” Forrester said. “I feel good about it. I may change some things in my coaching. … I know what they shoot in practice and at smaller meets. I know they’re capable of a whole lot more.”
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