Last Saturday, January 9, the Highlands High School archery team had a match at Camp Ernst Middle School. They went up against a total of seven other schools, including Cooper High School and Walton-Verona High School.

     The Birds were able to take home third place, outlasting schools such as Beechwood High School and Boone County High School. Senior Madison Opitz led Highlands with a score of 285 out of 300. 

     “Madison Opitz placed first for overall girls, which is really exciting. Quinton Wehby (Senior)  also did really well,” said Sophomore Evan Stuart.

     Apart from that, Opitz also had some positive words for the season as a whole.

     “We’ve been pretty good. Lots of people are scoring really well, always improving, and we’re ranking pretty high,” said Opitz.

     Among those people scoring high were Senior Kierra Guttadauro, Sophomore Martha Kelly Bone, and Freshman Alaina Kuhn, all ending with scores of over 260.

     In sports such as basketball and football, our region is very hard, however, archery is no different. In fact, Stuart labeled Kentucky as “the number one state for archery,” due to the schools in the central Kentucky area.

     “Kentucky is the number one state for archery, but I would say Simon Kenton is probably our closest competition just in terms of our region.”

     All quality teams must have leaders that step up. 

     “[Wehby] helps a lot and is really good at noticing if you’re doing something wrong. He can point it out and help you. Carleigh Saberton, she’s a senior, and she also does the same things that Quinton does whether it’s helping out after practice or helping people to do better.”

     According to NASP Tournaments, the archery team’s next match will be January 28 at the 12th annual Twenhofel Winter Tournament.