The drawback of pursuing the sport of archery is that it can take many hours of practice to sharpen skills and be successful. But there is a point to all the work the Warren Central archery team has put in this year. They’ve flown to a hot start, notching three victories, and are on target for their second straight undefeated season in head-to-head matches.

It’s just the third year of the program at Warren Central, but the team already has 31 members.

“We’ve done pretty good for a newer program at Warren Central, I think,” coach Matthew Brewer said. “It’s a sport that’s growing pretty rapidly all over the state. Last year’s state meet had around 6,000 players competing from Classes 1-6A from all over the state.”

Warren Central finished fourth at last year’s state competition, which made Brewer feel good about his team this season.

Three of the top archers from last year’s squad returned as juniors this year, all having been with the program since its inception. Carter McElroy, Madison Dixon and Hunter Lee all made big contributions last season, with McElroy being named the team’s Most Valuable Male Archer and Dixon being named the Most Valuable Female Archer.

Warren Central’s early success had Dixon feeling good about the season.

“Brandon is one of the best, and we beat them, so I think we’ll do good at our next meet,” Dixon said.

Meanwhile, Lee felt that with practice and consistency an even better finish at the state competition was in range for the Vikings this season.

“I think it’s possible,” Lee said. “We could surpass that for sure.”

The Vikings took down Clinton in a home matchup last week, scoring 3,248 of 3,600 possible points.
For Brewer, the key to the Vikings’ improvement has come from consistency and taking practices seriously.

“Every day that we practice, it’s just like a meet,” Brewer said. We practice just like you score at a meet, shoot the same distance and same number of arrows and stuff like that, so when you do come to time to perform you’re ready.”

The future of the program looks bright, as several younger archers made an impact. Their development could be key for the Vikings to step up their play in the future.

“Several eighth-graders have been really good, it’s a good thing to have them from eighth grade all the way forward,” Brewer said.

When the Vikings return from spring break, they will take on Northwest Rankin on March 22. It’s Warren Central’s first time matching up with the Cougars, and their last match before they head to North State on March 28.

The North State competition serves as a qualifier for the overall state tournament.