UNITY — The archery season has officially ended for the Unity Composite High School archery team, but not without some successes.
The newest faces for the team were coaches Brenda Pool and Tammy Lauinger, after past coach Michelle Van de Meutter retired from teaching at the school. Both women have been involved in the sport through the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) and local 4-H clubs.
Along with the new coaches, many new students joined the team, bringing the team to a total of 12 students. With no graduating team members, the Warriors will have a strong team going into next year’s season.
The archers’ first tournament of the year was at the William E. Hay Nockbusters Ninth Annual Winter Shoot, held in early February in Stettler, Alta. There, Grade 11 student Sebastian Lauinger ranked first in high school boys, Grade 11 boys and overall boys. Hunter Ireland, who is in Grade 9, scored a personal best of 248 with four bullseyes.
The following week, the team travelled back into Alberta, this time to Altario’s Archery Tournament. Newcomer Lane Thompson earned a personal best with a score of 192. Sebastian continued to take the top spot at this tournament.
Seven team members attended the Wetaskiwin Sabres Archery Tournament over the February/March weekend. Dylan Pool, a Grade 7 archer, shot a personal best of 224.
On March 7 and 8, Tate Pool in Grade 9 and Elisha Avena in Grade 10 both shot their personal bests at the Ardrossan Bisons NASP 3-D Tournament, scoring 253 and 259, respectively. During the same weekend, the Ardrossan Bisons held their Eigth Annual Bullseye Tournament, where Tate beat his previous personal best with a 268 and 13 bullseyes. Sebastian ranked first again with a score of 294 and 24 bullseyes.
The Castor Raider Spring Tune-Up 3-D and Bullseye Tourney was held in mid-March, where Ireland ranked second among the Grade 9 boys with a new personal best of 259 in 3-D. In the Bullseye, Elisha placed second among Grade 10 girls with her personal best of 278, and Xander Wells scored his personal best with 254.
The trip to the Hanna Hawks Invitational saw only four UCHS archers attending. While no personal bests were recorded for the Warriors, Sebastian Lauinger still held his first-place rankings, with his sister Holly coming in fourth among Grade 9 girls.
The Lauinger siblings represented the Warriors at the H.A. Kostash Annual Tournament, held April 11 and 12 in Smoky Lake, Alta. Holly scored her personal best in the 3-D shoot with a 241.
The Saskatchewan Provincial Bullseye and 3-D Tournaments were held April 12 and 13 in Shaunavon. The entire Warriors archery team attended the events, watching Oaken Jedlicka score two personal bests: 232 in bullseye and 241 in 3-D. Grade 10 student Jenay Bishop also scored her personal best in the 3-D shoot with 214 points. Holly also ranked third among Grade 9 girls in bullseye and scored a personal best of 241 in 3-D, while Sebastian scored 25 bullseyes, finishing with 295 and ranking first in all three categories for both bullseye and 3-D, making him the 2025 provincial archery champion.
The team’s final shoot was May 8 to 10 at the Canadian NASP National Tournament held in Wetaskiwin. Holly and Bishop each reached new personal bests in bullseye with 275 and 256, respectively. Grade 7 girls Aliya Keller, who scored 217, and Elise Avena, with a score of 210, also hit their personal bests at this shoot. In 3-D, four students in Grade 7 scored personal bests: Dylan with 236, Elise with 193, Keller with 189 and Thompson with 164.
With everyone on the team scoring personal bests over the archery season, both the coaches and archers are excited to see how far they will go next year.
