By Michael Rupp
For the past 4 years the MMCRU Archery team has represented Royal athletics 4 times at the state level, and 1 time at the national level. In 2017-2018 Coach Shar Duncan started the program in the small elementary gym in Marcus. The team qualified for state in Des Moines in the first year of competition. Since then the team has moved into the old shop for practice, but that has not slowed down their success. In the 2018-2019 season the team qualified for both state and national championships.
The 2019-2020 season started off strong for the Royals. After competing at state in Des Moines and shooting a near season high score of 3211, the Royals prepared for back to back trips to Nationals, however the Covid-19 pandemic canceled the event and the season came to a disappointing end.
In 2020-2021 the Royals were given the green light for in-person regular season tournaments, however state and national tournaments were held virtually. Due to the high cost of online registration the team decided to skip out on Nationals for the second year in a row.
This year the Royals look to get back to Nationals for the first time since 2017. The team returns a long list of shooters, including Junior Emma Mahoney, who ranked 10th out of 316 in the high school girls category at the state tournament with a score of 287.
The Royals also return Sophomore Mitchell Schnepf, Senior Michael Rupp, Junior Emma Vasher, and Junior Bryce Staab.
The season starts January 8th at Lawton Bronson.
Saturday, Jan. 8: Away @ Lawton-Bronson
Saturday, Jan. 15: Away @ Siouxland Christian
Saturday, Jan. 22: Away @ Westwood
Tuesday, Feb. 1: Away @ Ridge View
Friday, Feb. 4: Away @ Ridge View
Tuesday, Feb. 8: Away @ Ridge View
Saturday, Feb. 12: Home @ Marcus
Saturday, Feb. 19: Home @ Marcus
Saturday, Mar. 5-7: State Tournament @ Des Moines