Archers from Black Mountain, Evarts, and Green Hills met Friday at Black Mountain Elementary Schol to open Harlan County’s middle school archery season. After much anticipation, archery appears to be taking flight in Harlan County middle schools. For this competition, it was all about learning.

Black Mountain coach Greg Edens said the event went well.

“It is new to all of us. Coaches, archers, administration and parents are experiencing it for the first time in most cases,” he said. “We are all learning as we go. It has been great so far.”

This competition consisted of three flights for the 49 archers in attendance. Each flight consists of 15 scoring shots at a 10-meter distance and 15 scoring shots at 15-meter distance. A total of 300 points can be earned by each individual archer. Overall team scores were taken from the top 10 individuals from each school.

Black Mountain was on target to end the night as with a combined score of 1,878 out of a possible 3,000 points. Evarts was a close second with 1,792 points. Green Hills finished with 1,431 points.

The top male archer winner was Steven Lucas, from Black Mountain, with 251 points. Representing Green Hills Elementary was Abby Grills, who won the girls event with a 179-point showing.

“The night could not have been a success without the cooperation and coordination of all three involved schools, along with planning by county athletic director Eric Bowling,” Edens said. “I am excited for my students for the honors they received tonight, but without Evarts coach (Greg Lewis) and Green Hills coach (Andy Howard) it wouldn’t have went so smoothly. We really worked well together to provide these students with an enjoyable competition different from any other sport.”

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Team scoring:

Black Mountain (1,878)

Steven Lucas 251

Hunter Penny 243

Evan Turner 197

Johnny Monroe 185

Hunter Lawson 174

Andrew Canterbury 172

Jonah Neal 172

Blake Short 167

Kenley Stewart 163

Hanna Pace 154

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Evarts (1,792)

Austin Tindell 225

Hunter Coots 218

Connor Ward 215

Trenton Smith 185

Drew Freeman 184

Jocie Wynn 162

Matt Lewis 161

Gunner Witt 153

Luke Huff 147

Jonathan Long 142

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Green Hills (1,431)

Garrison Huff 221

Abby Grills 179

Scott Merrill 157

Dylan Simpson 152

Andrew Tolliver 141

Shyenne Cantrell 134

Ethan Caldwell 121

Andrew Hensley 112

Austin Crain 107

Erica Dixon 107

The next archery competition is being planned and could include more schools in Harlan County. The date and time will be announced when plans are finalized.