A young team of Wildcat archers once again proved that Kennedale HS is one of the top programs in the state. Five members of the 44-member team were seniors while 25 were a combination of sophomores and freshmen.
The 44 Kennedale archers were divided into two teams for the annual Texas State Archery Tournament in Belton, TX this past week which is part of the National Archery in Schools Program (NASP). Wildcat team #1 with a score of 3168 finished 19 out of the 66 teams who qualified for the Bullseye event. The Bullseye Event is the main event at the two-day tournament and uses a standard standing bullseye target. Wildcat Team #2 with a score of 2995 ranked 31.
Top performers for KHS in Bullseye …
The top two overall performers for the Kennedale Wildcats were Esteban Cerda (So) and Emma Holmes (Sr).
In the boys’ division for Kennedale, Esteban Cerda (So) finished with a 282 placing him 28 out of 709 contestants. This is the second year that Cerda finished with the Wildcat boys’ top score with a 278 in 2022. The second-highest score for Kennedale boys was Adrian Leos (Jr) with a score of 267 (135 of 709). Preston Currie (Jr) followed with a 260 (203 of 709). Elijah Jones (So) with a score of 258 (231 of 709) was 4th. Jacob Golden (Fr) and Austin Downward (Fr) both scored 256 for the fifth-highest totals for KHS boys.
Emma Holmes (Sr) in the high school girls division scored the highest for the Wildcats with a score of 270 placing 79 out of 709. Hayden Dominguez (So) followed with a 268 (97 of 598). Kari Sprinkle (So) had a 267 (99 of 598). Scottie Fiske (Jr) had the fourth third-best score for the KHS girls with a 265 (117 of 598). Completing the top five for KHS was Megan Tidwell (Jr) with a 265 (125 of 598).
Overall Tournament results show that 6A Arlington Martin is in the #1 spot with 3422 points, followed by 3A Eustace High School with 3329 points. Coming in third was 4A Kaufman High School with a score of 3316.
3-D results …
In the 3-D portion which represents a smaller event number-wise, Kennedale finished 13 out of 28 teams competing in this event.
The top KHS score by Adrian Leos (Jr) was 266 by (Jr) with a rank of 49 out of 245 high school boys. Megan Tidwell (Jr) scored 264 with a rank of 56 out of 256 for the girls’ division along with Esteban Cerda (So) whose 264 scores ranked 56 out of 245 in the boys’ division. Aaron Bustos (Fr) scored the third-best score for the Kennedale boys with 257 (77 out of 245). In fifth place for KHS was Daphanie Constable (Sr) with a 256 (54 out of 245 girls).
Wildcat state team …
Tournament rules say qualifying schools can send up to two teams with each team composed of 12 to 22 students. At least four members must be of the opposite gender. This year Kennedale sent 44 students (21 males, 23 females) divided into two teams to compete.
Besides the aforementioned students, other members of the state teams from Kennedale High School were Alysssa Joslin (Sr), Amber Cammilletti (Jr), Emily Neff (Sr), Mya Phan (Jr), Toby Wristen (Jr), Peyton White (Fr), Teighan Gilland (So), Anthony Williams (Fr), Marie Jones (Fr), Cessy Moreno (Jr), John Lawing (Jr), Alysson Carpio-Ortiz (Jr), Janiah Williams (Jr), Eylul Dugan (Jr), Elijah Davis (Jr), Madie Renz (Jr), Nicholas Cole (Jr), Kaylie Anderson (So), Melanie Williams (So), Macarthur Toren (So), Cesar Covarrubias (Fr), Fowler Abercrombie (Fr), Emma Easley (Fr), Caitlin McCollum (Fr), Maribeth Martinez (Fr), Addison Jones (So), Zeke Saxon (So), Jackson Sellers (So), Alexandra Koog (So), Kelton MacKey (So) and Nathaniel Cox (Fr).
Kennedale’s program started nine years ago but 2015 was the first year for competitive archery. It has proved to be one of the mainstay programs in the state tournament finishing in the top 20 each year. The best finish of the Wildcats was in 2021 when they were 4th in the state. Kennedale finished 7th overall in 2022.
The archery program is part of the Outdoor Education Program offered at Kennedale High School. KHS teacher Danny Wilcox started the OEP program for Kennedale and remains the primary instructor. He teaches science along with outdoor education.
