TF tourney draws archers for target championships

Forty-eight archers from around Montana arrived at Previs Field in Thompson Falls to face the rain and each other in the State Target Championship over the weekend. The weekend's archery competition, hosted by the Thompson Falls Archery Club, is the second of three annual championships sponsored state-wide by the Montana Archery Association (MAA). The first shoot, Indoor State Championship, was held in March in Kalispell. The third championship, Field State, will be held June 25-26 in Butte. Archers must compete in all three championships if they want to compete in the Montana Overall Championship.

MAA state tournament director Tony Bierwagen of Thompson Falls said although attendance was down again this year, partially due to COVID-19 and the weather, spirits were still high and a little rain wouldn't stop the competitors.

Bierwagen, who has been involved in archery for the last 35 years and competes every year, also runs an archery youth program in Thompson Falls. "I've been teaching archery in Sanders County for 25 years," he said. Bierwagen has 14 children ranging from 8 to 11 years old participating in his youth program this year. Because of the support he has received from the community for his continuing desires to educate young archers, Bierwagen has been able to offer the program at no charge for those who want to participate. "There are three kids from the youth program who are here competing this weekend," he said.

Bierwagen says he believes archery is an important sport for children to learn because it's a personal challenge. "It's all about you," he said. "It's all about learning the science of archery, or what we call the shooting form. Something else you get to see in archery is that everybody is a friend. If your friend is beating you, it's not that big of a deal because you're having fun anyways."

Archers competed in different divisions based on age, gender and class. MAA president Al Bodle said the format for archers in the adult age division was 30 arrows at each distance of 60, 50 and 40 yards. Young adults shot at distances of 50, 40 and 30 yards, while cubs shot at distances of 30, 20 and 10 yards. "We will have a champion for each age and division," Bodle said. "Our oldest competitor here is around 80 years old and the youngest is eight. It's a good variety of ages. This is a close group; you get to know everybody. Our hope is to keep building this year by year."

Many different divisions of equipment were seen during the weekend's championship, from traditional recurve bows to bow-hunting equipment. Bierwagen, who was unable to compete last year due to shoulder surgery, decided to compete in this year's free style class division. Highlighting his scope, lens and stabilizer, Bierwagen was ready to get back in the game, but not before introducing the three archers from his youth program first. "This is their first year competing, and they are all shooting traditional recurve bows," Bierwagen said.

Emi Corbett, 12, scored 229 during round one on Saturday and 173 during round two on Sunday for a total score of 402. Noah Scharfe, 10, scored 559 during round one and 540 during round two for a total score of 1,099. Elena Buys, 8, scored a total of 584.

Scharfe said it's not hard to shoot at all, and Corbett said while archery is not an easy sport, she still likes it. "I got into it because I got to shoot when I was in Latvia," she said. Corbett's father, Sean, said it's important for his daughter to be involved in the sport because it's a personal challenge archers face when learning and competing. "Life skills from that alone are worth it," he said. "It's almost impossible to reach perfection in this sport, and there's always opportunity to improve."

Whitefish resident Kathy Wood has been involved in the sport for the last 15 years and travels all around the country to compete. She says she enjoys archery because she only has to depend on herself. "It's all on you, and that feels good," she said. "I shot my personal best this weekend." Wood scored 804 on Saturday and 765 on Sunday for a total score of 1,569, winning her first place in her age, gender and class division.

Meghan King of Helena said she did "ok" during the championship. "I did better today than on Saturday," she said. King has been an archer for three years and while it wasn't scored officially, she shot her first Robinhood during Sunday's competition.

Brittany Hanson of Shelby took home first place in her division during the weekend's target championship with a total score of 1,601. "I've been involved in archery since I could remember," she said. "I love the people. It's a good group here."

Brooke Garness from Great Falls says this was the first championship she has competed in. She took home second place in her division with a total score of 1,519. "It was fun minus the weather," she said. "I did shoot better today than yesterday." Garness says she will be back to compete again next year.

"I think the championship went well," Bierwagen said. "The weather didn't crush us and everybody loves coming here."

Results from the Target State Championship can be found on the MAA website.