The Yorkton Regional High School (YRHS) archery team competed at the 2012 National Archery in the Schools (NASP) Provincial Championships in Moose Jaw.
Going into the shoot, the YRHS previously won three consecutive provincial titles. The school repeated as provincial champions at the 2012 provincial shoot.
YRHS had a total combined team score of 2,972 points. The second place team from Melfort Comp finished with a team score of 2,762 points.
YRHS has dominated the team category for the past four years. YRHS archery head coach Daren Wandy says, "I am really proud of the kid's effort! These kids have made a solid effort of attending practices twice a week, one being at 7 a.m. in the morning," he points out. The team had a very strong group of female shooters this year with three of the top five shooters coming from the YRHS.
"In past years, teams may have been lucky to have one of their female shooters in the top five, we had three. Just goes to show you how the sport and program has developed in the four years of existence," Wandy declares.
For individual efforts, the YRHS had three of the top five female high school shooters. Leading the way was Lea Burnard who won a gold medal for her effort. She shot a 284 out of a possible 300 points. Her score also placed her second overall out of all shooters, male and female. Burnard is a Grade 11 student at the Regional. "When it comes to being a shooter in control, that is certainly a characteristic of Lea. She is a very calm and collected young lady. Not much bothers her when she is shooting. Lea has been part of our program for three years and has developed into the best female archer in the province. We are very proud of her effort," says Wandy.
Grade 12 student Tara Lazurko finished second in the high school female standings with a score of 267 points, while Grade 9 student Larissa Schick placed fifth with a score of 255. "Tara is our team captain and demonstrates true leadership on our team and throughout our school. New comer to the program Larissa Schick has shown great improvement throughout the season. It was awesome to see all her hard work paid off for her with a 5th place finish," Wandy states.
Rounding out the top five finishers was Felcon Swain. Felcon placed third in the high school male category with a score of 265. "Felcon was our only boy to place in the top five. However we had three more shooters close behind him in the standings which helped with our overall team score," Wandy reports.
The next action for the YRHS is home shoot which will be held May 12 at the YRHS.
Currently 10 teams will be bringing archers from all over the province. The archery team invites anyone interested in the sport as well as the general public to take in the archery shoot.
