Greenway Archer takes top honors at Western Nationals Championship

Grand Rapids, MINN – In March, youth archers across Minnesota competed in the 2024 Minnesota National Archery in the School Program (NASP) State Championship at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, MN, and qualified to participate in the Western Nationals Championship. There were over 2,500 archers, from 24 states and 252 schools that competed for individual and team awards at the 2024 NASP Western Nationals Championship held at the Mountain America Center in Sandy, Utah, April 26-27, 2024. Archers competed in both bullseyes and 3D events.

Overall, Minnesota had nine schools and 170 archers that competed. Minnesota had three archers that won the overall championship between the bullseye and 3D events. Masen Chambers, an eighth-grader that competes for the Greenway Raiders Archery Team, in Coleraine, has won the overall male champion of the bullseye tournament with a score of 293 out of a possible 300 points. Jameson Rydeen, a twelfth-grader from the Lakes International Language Academy, in Forest Lake, won the overall male champion of the 3D tournament with a score of 296. Brecken Lee, an eighth-grader also from Lakes International Language Academy won the 3D event for females with a score of 292.

Teams placing in the top-3 of their divisions were Lakes International Language Academy High School team placing third for bullseye and second for 3D.

Overall, there were nine schools from Minnesota that attended including; Greenway, Lakes International Learning Academy, Foley, Sauk Centre, Lake Park Audubon, Milaca, Princeton, Becker and Riverview Intermediate (Sartell).

Qualifying archers from the eastern portion of the United States will soon gear up for their opportunity to compete. Scores from both tournaments (Eastern & Western) will then be combined to determine the individuals and teams that will be named as overall National Champions and then advance to the 2024 NASP Championship Tournament, to be held June 6-8, 2024, in Daytona Beach, Florida.

NASP is a national in-school archery program that introduces target archery to 4th -12th grade students. The program is highly standardized to maintain archery’s “best in sports” safety record and is easy to teach and enjoy by students of nearly every ability and background. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Fish & Wildlife Outreach is the coordinating agency that provides training for educators as basic archery instructors and offers grant money to help schools purchase NASP archery kits.

Public, private and home schools throughout Minnesota interested in starting a NASP archery program can contact: Kraig Kiger, kraig.kiger@state.mn.us or 218-328-8868.