Archers hit their marks at state

A large group of archers representing archery programs at Nodaway Valley and Orient-Macksburg felt the satisfaction of capping their season on the activity’s biggest stage last weekend in the 2025 Iowa National Archery in the Schools Program State Tournament.

The Friday-through-Sunday state tournament welcomed approximately 2,100 archers, hailing from river to river, to the Jacobson Building on the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

Nodaway Valley head coach Bill Newbury said he “can’t say enough” about the work his archers have put in throughout the season and the rewards they reaped through their experience at state.

Orient-Macksburg head coach Jamie Hanscom said that it was bittersweet for the Bulldogs to toe the line for the last time at state. The school will whole-grade share next year and then dissolve. That being said, the team did an admirable job of lifting each other up before and during the experience, Hanscom said.

Of three teams and several individuals who made it to state, Nodaway Valley had Beau Antisdel in bullseye, Tyson Hauf in bullseye and Ashby Melton in 3D and bullseye qualify for nationals, which is in May in Louisville, Kentucky. Antisdel was fourth in his division, Hauf sixth and Melton second in 3D and third in bullseye.

Antisdel and Hauf tied with a third archer with the same score and had to go into a shoot-off to determine which place they would receive.

“Ashby has been in first place all year long, as far as the highest shooter for us. That’s a sign of her self-discipline. Beau struggled in the first part of the year but in the last few months he’s finally gotten his groove back and done an amazing job. Tyson kind of shocked us all, so to speak. He’s been a good archer and has always been in the middle to upper part of the group. Saturday he nailed it and rose to the occasion. It was really nice to see him shoot at that level to accomplish what he did,” Newbury said.

Orient-Macksburg archers going to nationals are Justin Conner in bullseye and 3D and Myka Hanscom in bullseye. Conner was fourth in his division in bullseye and fifth in 3D. Hanscom was ninth in her division in bullseye.

“They didn’t give up,” coach Hanscom said of those two. “They kept going and stayed focused, even if their scores weren’t what they wanted.”

Newbury said it was a joy to have three different teams qualify for state: middle school bullseye, middle school 3D and high school 3D.

“The biggest standout was having a high school team there. We finally had enough kids who showed interest. Taryn Gutierrez had a personal best of 266 points and that was her third 3D tournament she’s ever been in. She’s really figured it out and I can’t be more proud of her,” Newbury said. “We had three seniors this year — Dakota Hall, KayLynn Virtue and Shannon Newbury. Watching those three grow up through the years has been just awesome. They all three participated at state as part of the 3D team. It was good to see them there and they had fun.”

To be one of the smallest schools in the state and still have such a strong archery program has been a definite source of pride for the Orient-Macksburg contingent.

“It’s a big source of pride; we’re proud of every one of our archers,” coach Hanscom said. “They come to practice willing to work at it and we try to make sure they have a good time with it so they don’t forget that it’s about accomplishing their own goals, but it’s about having fun.”