Youth archery team earns high marks

By John Hartsock

jhartsock@altoonamirror.com

The Arrows Christian Academy is a school that is located in the Center City Church Building at 1220 12th Avenue in Altoona.

As events have transpired, the school -- which is now in its second year of operation and offers instruction for students from pre-school through the eighth grade -- has been very aptly named.

The school's middle-school archery team for boys and girls in grades 6 through 8 has qualified for the national 3D competition that is set for May 11-13 at the Louisville, Ky. Convention Center.

The team earned its spot in the national event by shooting a score of 1362 at the Pennsylvania state meet Feb. 4 at the Great American Sports Show in Harrisburg. The qualifying score for the 3D national event at the state meet was a 1349.

Three other elementary school division (grades 1-5) competitors from the Arrows Christian Academy qualified for the 3D national event as individuals.

Matt Mielnik, Colin Shaffer and Holt Grant qualified as individuals for the elementary school division 3D nationals by placing second, seventh, and ninth, respectively, at the state competition in Harrisburg.

Mielnik also qualified for the national meet at Louisville in May in the elementary school division's bullseye competition by placing ninth with a score of 245 at the Pennsylvania state meet that was held at the Spooky Nook Sports Complex near Lancaster on March 24.

In the National Archery Schools Program in which the Arrows Christian Academy competes, compound bows are used, and there is competition available in both 3D and bullseye archery shooting. The 3D competitions involve students shooting at six different foam targets from varying distances.

The bullseye competition involves shooting at 400 different round targets of multiple circles and different colors.

The head coach of the Arrows Christian Academy teams is Theron Glenny, 41, a former multi-sports participant at Juniata Valley High School. Glenny's assistant coaches include his father, Doug, along with Ned Miller, Mark Mielnik, Sr., Christopher Grant, Gordie Trimer, and Jodie Campbell.

Seventeen shooters on the middle school team will be headed to the 3D national event. Those competitors include: Nadia Eilenberger, Gavyn Miller, Lawson Reahm, David Wolford, Tanner Yeager, Elah Glenny, Micah Claar, Payton Conzo, Addison Mielnik, Bayla Miller, Ohwen Cook, Sarah Glenny, Hudson Grant, Ben Kilmartin, Gwendolyn Troutman, Owen White, and Taylor Yeager.

This is only the second season for the archery program at the Arrows Christian Academy, and Theron Glenny was very pleased with the team's performance this year at the 3D state meet.

"They performed very well,'' Theron Glenny said. "Obviously we didn't necessarily have it in our sights to qualify for nationals in what is only our second year as a program, because there are lots of other schools in the state with powerhouse teams.

"We were just going to the state meet to expose our kids to something new and to give them more experience at shooting at 3D targets in a competition setting,'' added Theron Glenny, whose daughter Sarah and son Elah are both members of the middle school 3D division national qualifying team. "And so we were quite elated that we came out and qualified for nationals.''

Matt Mielnik, Shaffer and Grant each distinguished themselves as individuals in the elementary division 3D state competition by qualifying for nationals, and Mielnik was also the Arrows Christian Academy's lone national qualifier in the elementary division of the state meet's bullseye competition.

"They were all top 10 in the state,'' Theron Glenny said of the elementary trio. "We're very proud of them. They've been practicing a lot and working hard.''

Assistant coach Ned Miller's eighth-grade daughter, Bayla, and sixth-grade son, Gavyn, are both members of the national tournament-qualifying 3D team.

"It's only the second year for this program, and to be able to qualify for the national 3D tournament at this point is a great accomplishment for the kids,'' said Ned Miller, a business owner who makes traditional wooden bows at his Altoona-based Gravyn Traditional Archery business that have been featured in some Hollywood movies.

"For a lot of archery programs, (success) doesn't really happen that fast, so it's nice to see the program come along that far that quickly,'' Ned Miller said.

Benefiting from the expertise and direction of his father, Doug, Theron Glenny -- who is one of the co-founders of the Arrows Christian Academy and is a teacher at the school -- grew up around the sport of archery as a young hunter in Huntingdon County.

Theron Glenny said that the sport is gaining popularity and he hopes that many area schools will soon field their own interscholastic archery programs.

"It really seems that archery is getting more and more popular with youth,'' Theron Glenny said. "We've got some athletes on our teams who participate in other sports as well, but archery is a great sport for some kids who might not fit into the football or basketball mode.

"Archery gives those kids a place to belong and an opportunity to compete in something that they might be good at,'' Theron Glenny added. "I know that several schools in our area have archery as part of their physical education programs, but they don't yet have a competitive team. We would like to see more schools develop competitive teams, because archery is a growing sport.''

The success of the Arrows Christian Academy archery program has set a good example.

"I think that the kids in our program have really developed a love and passion for shooting,'' Theron Glenny said. "They've all been practicing a lot, and that has helped to put our program in a place where it is finding some success.''