After five years of aiming high, the Ashville Middle School archery team won the national archery meet last week and beat all other teams, including one from Canada, making them what some may call �international� champions.

The tournament was held in Louisville, Kentucky, and was the largest archery meet in North American history with 4,000 participants taking part in a two-day competition.

Three archers took national honors from the AMS team. In the boys� division, Nathan Owens placed second in the nation and Micah Baker placed fifth. In the girls� division, Stephanie Whisenhant placed second. The team took the national title with a total score of 3350.

The 2009 team was the second to attend the national meet and coach Jeremy Cox said that he is as proud of his students as anyone could be and thanked those in the community who helped take the students on their trip.

�You can�t believe how big it is,� Cox said of the team�s achievement. �Watching these kids come from fifth grade to eighth grade. They progress every year and get about 20 points better each year. These kids, especially the ones in the eighth grade who�ll be leaving, I�ll miss a lot. It�s going to be a big loss, but we�ll have a lot of ids coming back next year.�

Many Ashville residents have gotten behind the team�s efforts and several sponsors throughout St. Clair County have pitched in funds to help get the students on the road to success.

�It�s been kind of a new things to have that kind of response,� Cox said. �I�ve been coaching for ten years and this is the first time that I�ve really had a whole bunch of parents behind something for middle school kids. This program, though, is kind of a family oriented thing and the kids can practice at home, they can practice at school and at P.E. also. It�s kind of cool that the parents want to go in and help them out. All of the parents work with me and there are a couple of parents who help out, which is a help to me, being just one coach with 24 kids.�

The team worked hard this year and their dedication paid off. They practiced for one hour each afternoon and also had morning practices from 6:30 to 7:15 a.m.

The students shoot with Mathews Genesis bows, which are a modified, re-curved variation of a compound bows.

�It�s a constant draw-back,� Cox said of the action on the bows used by students. �It�s about 20 pounds, though you can draw it down to 10 pounds and it�ll still shoot well. It�s not like your regular compound because it doesn�t have a let-off on it.�

The students don�t use any finger guards, stabilizers or grips when competing. �We�re not sissies,� Cox said with a chuckle. �It�s just all natural shooting.�

Sponsors for the 2009 season who helped provide funds to see the students safely included: Sheriff Terry Surles, USW Local, Fouts Tractor, Bill and Lois Conwell, Billy Wakefield, John’s Lawn Care, The St. Clair County Board of Education, parents of team members and Russ Stewart of the AMS Technology Department. Transportation was provided by Meadowbrook Baptist Church, which loaned a charter bus to the team for their trip.

Cox said he hopes that his team takes aim at some of the Good Book values he tried to instill in them. �I hope our kids take the Christian values that I have tried to demonstrate for them, that becoming a Christian, sharing your faith and prayer are far more important than anything else. Hard work along with prayer pays off in the long run.�