Six New Jersey schools sent 63 archers to Louisville, Kentucky, last week to compete in the NASP National Tournament. The schools participate in the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) which teaches international-style target archery in 4th-12th grades and is aligned to National Physical Education Standards. The program is sponsored by the NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife and covers archery history, safety, technique, equipment, mental concentration, and self-improvement.

The competition was held in Louisville Kentucky with a total of 10,443 students competing; with a shooting line more than ¼ mile long it is the largest archery competition on earth.

With an extremely tight competition, New Jersey represented very well. New Jersey's top team results were:

• Oxford Central School (middle school division): team score of 3263, ranking 25 out of 197 schools
• Angelo L. Tomaso Elementary School (elementary school division): team score of 2998, ranking 45 out of 114 schools

The top shooter from New Jersey was Sara Quigley from Oxford Central School with a score of 286. This placed her 7th out of 740 7th grade girls, and 23rd out of 2024 middle school girls!

In New Jersey, teachers in more than 130 schools have been trained to conduct NASP archery in physical education classes. This year the state had its largest turnout at a National Tournament with teams from the following six schools:

Angelo L. Tomaso Elementary School in Warren, Somerset County (21 archers)
Community Park Elementary School in Princeton, Mercer County (2 archers)
Oxford Central School in Oxford, Warren County (24 archers)
Harmony Township School in Harmony Township, Warren County (4 archers)
Warren Middle School in Warren, Somerset County (9 archers)
Warren Hills High School in Washington, Warren County (3 archers)

Full tournament results can be found at www.nasptournaments.org/PostTournamentDetail.aspx?tid=360.