Colby archery

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While the school is able to provide some assistance by allowing gym access, targets and some bows, the club still needed additional funding to get off the ground. Most area teams raise funds by running tournaments, but without the resources to do so in Colby for now, Unterschuetz got some additional help from local businesses like Loos Machine, Abbybank Foundation, Smith Brothers, Central Wisconsin Fur, Fin & Feather and Abbotsford Appliance.

The Hornets just wrapped their inaugural regular season with its final team tournament this past Friday in Stratford.

There were eight new personal bests set in Stratford. In the bullseye competition, Ella Raatz led the high school squad with a PR score of 258. Rhys Rau put up a score of 254, Jacob Raatz scored a 245 and Collin Rau shot a 217.

Mia Rau led all Hornets with a score of 274, placing her 10th out of 97 middle school girls while Logan O’Donnell and Meg Smith both had personal bests with scores of 241 and 233. Drew Smith rounded out the middle school squad with a score of 219.

Ramsey Schjoneman and Will Smith both PR’d for the elementary team. Schjoneman placed 20th out of 75 elementary boys with a score of 233 while Smith had his best performance of the year with a score of 193. Jade Wozniak had a score of 191, George Rau shot a 184, Levi Schjoneman had a score of 179, Ellen Sazama put together a personal best with a score of 163 and John Hannula shot a 150.

In the 3D target competition, Jacob Raatz and Rhys Rau had PRs with scores of 260 and 249 respectively. Ella Raatz finished with a score of 248 and Collin Rau shot a 217. Mia Rau was the only middle school archer to shoot in the 3D competition, taking 15th out of 61 middle school girls with a score of 258.

It has been a year filled with learning and improvement and while some have had prior experience from being a part of clubs from other schools, many of the athletes competed in tournaments for the first time this year.

“I’m super proud of these kids,” Unterschuetz said. “In phy ed, they’re just learning the safety. But here, every practice we Perspectives

are working on technique, we are working on aiming points. If you look at the scores, you can see everybody is significantly improving every week, which is huge for me. I’m super happy that they are improving and that they are having fun. And that’s the bottom line is having fun.”

Eight archers from the Colby squad, Jade Wozniak, John Hannula, Jacob Raatz, Ella Raatz, Collin Rau, Rhys Rau, Mia Rau and George Rau will be competing at the Wisconsin NASP State Archery tournament on Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29 in Wisconsin Rapids. They will then have a chance to qualify for nationals, which will be held May 8-10 in Louisville, Kentucky.

CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT - Coach Allison Unterschuetz gives out some helpful hints, above, while Jacob Raatz, left, and Drew Smith, right, line up their sights on the targets down range.

STAFF PHOTOS/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD