March 23, 2018
By ERIC BONANNO
Rutherford County Schools
Nearly half the schools in Rutherford County – 22 elementary, middle and high schools – competed in the Warrior Classic Archery Tournament.
As the last tournament prior to the Tennessee State Archery Tournament, the Warrior Classic serves as the county championship.
A total of 547 student-archers participated in the three divisions for both team and individual titles. Senior archers from each high school were also recognized.
TEAM RESULTS: WARRIOR CLASSIC
In the elementary school division, Christiana Elementary was able to hold off the 2017 champions, Buchanan Elementary, to win the 2018 Rutherford County Elementary School Championship.
Christiana had a team score of 3125 to finish in first place by 165 points ahead of second place Buchanan. Stewartsboro Elementary School finished in third place followed by John Coleman Elementary, Rock Springs Elementary and Smyrna Elementary.
In the middle school division, Stewarts Creek Middle captured their second straight championship. Stewarts Creek shot a state middle school record score of 3329 to edge second place Central Magnet by nine points.
Whitworth-Buchanan placed third with Christiana and Blackman rounding out the top five in the middle school division. Oakland, Rockvale, Rocky Fork and Smyrna rounded out the rest of the middle school field.
In the high school division, Central Magnet continued their rein at the top of the county with their fourth straight championship. Central Magnet shot a season-high score of 3374 to win the 2018 title.
Riverdale finished in second with a school-record of 3337 and Oakland placed third followed by Stewarts Creek, Blackman and Eagleville.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS: WARRIOR CLASSIC
In the middle school division, the 2018 Rutherford County Middle School Champions were Emily Morgan from Central Magnet with a score of 291 out of 300 and Brody Harrison from Siegel Middle with a score of 287.
Emma Baker (Stewarts Creek) placed second followed by Abby Highfill (Stewarts Creek), Mikayla Harris (Central Magnet) and Kiana Bauer (Stewarts Creek) rounded out the top five girls; Joseph Potash (Stewarts Creek), Nathan Blunkall (Central Magnet), Carson Collins (Stewarts Creek) and Dominic Swader (Central Magnet) rounded out the top five boys.
In the high school division, Central Magnet won both girls and boys county championships.
Kayleigh Corban (Central Magnet) was the girl’s champion with a score of 292 and Connor Smathers was the boy’s champion with a score of 297.
Alison Blanton from Central Magnet placed second among the high school girls followed by Ashley Paseka (Riverdale), Brook Gipson (Riverdale) and Elaine Wang (Blackman) to round out the top five.
Austin Schlangen from Riverdale placed second followed by Jacob Harris (Central Magnet), Kenneth Merritt (Oakland) and Eric Niedzielski (Central Magnet) rounded out the top five boys in the high school division.
In the elementary division, Christiana Elementary dominated the individual competitions.
Kelsey Shatley won the girls individual title with 271 out of 300 followed by Katelyn Anderson and Ellie Murray to give Christiana the top three scores. Annelyn Trail of Eagleville and Hannah Morgan from Blackman rounded out the top five girls in the elementary division.
Henry Black, who is also from Christiana, who won the boys elementary division with 285 points out of 300, while Ary Black took second. Luis Jimenez (Blackman), Lincoln Tune (Christiana) and Aiden Ozment (Stewartsboro) rounded out the top five individual archers in the elementary division.
The Rutherford County archery teams will next compete March 28-29 in the Tennessee NASP State Tournament at Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro. Competition each day begins at 9:45 a.m. and continues until 4:30 p.m. with an award ceremony immediately following on March 29.
PHOTOS PROVIDED