The biggest event for the sport of archery is Nationals. This is where tens of thousands of the best archers from different states compete to see who is the best in the country.

   Archery Nationals took place in Louisville, KY from Thurs. May 9 to Sat. May 11. Throughout the three days of the event, almost 15,000 archers shot alongside each other. Grand Ledge High School sent a team of 24 archers, one of those archers was junior Jordyn Yockey.

   “I felt very happy and lucky to have the opportunity to get the chance to shoot with people from all over the country,” Yockey said. “It can get very stressful and I can get very nervous but I’ve learned to just block everybody and focus on me.”

   After the entire event was over and the scores were entered, the results were released. The high school team shot their best score ever of 3,351, placing them 48th out of 263 high school teams. As for Yockey, her score of 291 placed her among the top 50 girls in the country, and top 124 archers in the U.S.

   “My reaction to finding out my placement was very excited,” Yockey said. “Not only did I shoot my personal best, but I shot in the top fifty which has been a goal of mine.”

   Yockey worked very hard to place that well in the standings. With working hard comes practice. She wanted to be one of the best and she had to put herself in that mindset in order to do so.

   “If you ever think about shooting do it, you get the experience and the joy of having a second family,” Yockey said. “If you think you can’t do it still shoot because you will get better. I started shooting 220s and now i’m shooting high 280’s and low 290’s.”

   With Yockey coming back as a senior next year, she has the potential to improve her shooting ability that much more to take her all the way to 300. Congratulations to Jordyn Yockey and the rest of the archery team for doing so well down in Louisville, KY.