Jacobson named state champ

The New Rockford-Sheyenne archery team traveled to Minot on March 18-19, to compete in the North Dakota National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) Bullseye and 3-D Tournaments. NR-S was among 38 other schools in the Bullseye tournament and 30 schools in the 3-D Tournament.

To move onto the national NASP tournament, archers needed to place in the top ten of their division. NR-S had four archers that placed in the top ten for the 3-D tournament, one taking the label of state champion, and three archers placed in the top ten for the bullseye tournament. The 2022 Western National Archery Tournament will be held in Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah on April 29-30.

Layton Jacobson, a seventh grader at NR-S, took first place in the middle school boys division of the 3-D tournament with a score of 282 and 17 tens. Along with Jacobson, NR-S ninth grader, Hunter Genre, and fifth graders, Fisher Genre and Braylon Alfstad, also earned a chance at the national tournament.

H. Genre took ninth place in the high school boys division with his shot of 275 with 14 tens. H. Genre's younger brother, Fisher, shot a score of 258 with 12 tens to take fourth place in the elementary school boys division. Alfstad took 10th place with his score of 247 with eight tens.

NR-S took fourth place overall in the elementary school division, fifth place in the middle school division and third place in the high school division.

Mt. Pleasant school had multiple state champion archers in different divisions. Carter Belgarde took first place in the elementary school boys division with his score of 275 with 13 tens. Elissa Estenson shot a score of 262 with 12 tens to take first place in the elementary school girls division. Ninth grader Madison Samuelson topped the high school girls division with a shot of 290 with 21 tens.

Other state championships in the high school boys and middle school girls divisions were Joshua Wiebusch of Wahpeton, with a score of 291 with 23 tens, and Shayle Zimbelman of Oakes, shooting a score of 286 with 20 tens.

Kensal archers all wore shirts that said "We wear Gold for Mandy" in honor of Mandy Hoyt, who recently passed away after a long courageous battle with cancer. Mandy's daughter, Logan, and nephew, Nolan, both placed in the top ten for Kensal, with an amazing guardian angel cheering them on from above. Hoffman shot a score of 251 with five tens to take ninth place in the elementary school boys division, whereas Hoyt took seventh place in the elementary school girls division, with a score of 239 and six tens.

Griggs County Central also had national qualifiers. Senior Octavia Ralph-Martinson took second place in the high school girls division with a shot of 286 with 18 tens. Ryleigh Walker, a seventh grader at GCC, shot a score of 269 with 11 tens to take sixth place in the middle school girls division.

Carrington archery didn't have any archers place in the top ten of the 3-D tournament. Taylor Braaten and Brekka Kuss came the closest with placing 18th and 19th respectively in the high school boys/girls divisions. Braaten shot a score of 262 with 10 tens and Kuss shot a score of 268 with 12 tens.

Sixth grader, Koy Zieman, blew it out of the park in the bullseye tournament, taking second place in the middle school boys division with a score of 285 and 18 tens. Zieman and the third place finalist, Easton Johnson of North Sargent, had to participate in a tie-breaker to determine second and third place, as they tied with scores of 285. Zieman won the shoot-out to take second place. Genre also placed in the bullseye tournament, taking ninth place in the elementary school boys division with a score of 263 and 10 tens. Jacobson was the third and final NR-S archer to earn a chance at nationals, taking fifth place in the middle school boys division with a shot of 283 and 17 tens.

Hoffman, of Kensal, took third place in the elementary school boys division with a score of 275 and 13 tens. Paige Black, also from Kensal, shot a score of 266 with eight tens to take third place in the elementary school girls division.

Ralph-Martinson and Walker of Griggs County Central also placed in the bullseye tournament. Ralph-Martinson brought home a state championship for GCC, taking first in the high school girls division with a score of 289 and 20 tens. Walker took fourth in the middle school girls division with a score of 279 with 14 tens. Seventh grader Jetta Coombs also placed for GCC, taking seventh in the middle school girls division with a score of 274 and 11 tens.

Carrington had two archers place three-to-four places shy of the top ten. Eleventh graders, Braden Kruse and Gavyn Anderson took 13th and 14th place respectively. Kruse shot a score of 283 with 15 tens, whereas Anderson shot a score of 280 with 16 tens.

Along with Ralph-Martinson, state champions in each division came from Oakes, Rolla, Wahpeton, Medina and Hankinson.

Wyatt Arrowood of Oakes shot a score of 276 with 12 tens, taking first place in the elementary school boys division. Estenson of Rolla and Wiebusch of Wahpeton, took dual state championships in 3-D and bullseye. Estenson took first place in the elementary school girls division with a score of 279 and nine tens and Wiebusch took first place in the high school boys division with a score of 295 and 25 tens, only five points short of a perfect score. Grant Grabinger of Medina was the state champion of the middle school boys division with a score of 287 and 24 tens. Hankinson's Danica Onchuck shot a score of 291 with 23 tens, to take first place in the middle school girls division.

NR-S took fourth place in the elementary and middle school division and fifth place in the high school division.

Six NR-S archers qualified to shoot for the 2021/22 All State Team. Those archers were Sawyer Huso, Koy Zieman, Layton Jacobson, Fisher Genre, Hunter Genre and Kailar Jacobson. Although only five of the six archers were able to shoot for the opportunity to make the All State Team. Kailar Jacobson had recently broken his wrist, which ended his 2021-22 archery career short of the state tournament.

Fisher Genre, Layton Jacobson and Hunter Genre were the final three to make the 2021/22 All State team.

Other local archers to qualify for the All State team were Paige Black, Nolan Hoffman, Logan Hoyt, Cainen Stangeland, Jesse Wessels, Kelby Gjovik and Kyle Johnson, all of Kensal; Sam Nannenga of Harvey; Tucker Suhr, Ryleigh Walker, Octavia Ralph-Martinson and Rylee Suhr of Griggs County Central.