Milford brought home its first state archery team title after competing in the Nebraska Archery in the Schools state shoot March 17-18 in Lincoln.
The Milford ladies owned the day, winning every division they entered.
Senior Autumn Wissenburg started the shoot on Friday night setting a personal best score of 282/300 in the 3D shoot. Her score stood solid for the entire tournament over both the boys and girls divisions. Autumn walked away with the overall state tournament NASP 3D champion female shooter honor and was the top high school girl in 3D.
Autumn’s score along with other high scores from Sydney Havlat (273), Jay Wissenburg (271), Ayla Salistean (266), Zephyr Mowinkel (265) and Dane Kolb (264) led the Milford team to its first state tournament team title, winning the NASP IBO 3D tournament.
Salistean also was the top middle school female in the 3D tournament.
Several other Milford archers took home hardware by placing in the top five in their divisions in the 3D shoot. Havlat was the fifth overall female and fifth high school female. Mowinkel was the second middle school male, and Allie Gerdes was fifth in the middle school female division.
On Saturday, most of the team shot in the NASP bullseye competition. This day again was dominated mostly by the Milford ladies. An eighth grader, Salistean led the way by shooting her personal best of 283/300 and was named the overall state tournament NASP bullseye champion female. She also was recognized as the top female middle school shooter.
Natalie Nutzman was named the top high school female in the bullseye tournament, and Autumn Wissenburg placed fifth overall and fourth in the high school female division.
The girls were not the only ones experiencing success. Jay Wissenburg shot 282/300, just two points off the tournament's male overall champion, earning him the fourth overall male and fourth high school male honors. Milford also had a couple other boys finish in the top 10.
Jay redeemed himself in the tournament's scholarship shoot, which pits the top eight girls and top eight boys against each other in a bracket-style shoot for scholarship money.
Jay worked his way through the boys' competition, finally besting the state runner-up shooter to win the first-place prize, a $2,000 scholarship.
Not to be outdone, Milford had three of the eight ladies participating in the scholarship shoot, Autumn Wissenburg, Nutzman and Salistean.
Salistean made it the farthest and lost in the title match by one point to one of the state's best shooters. However, she still took home a $1,000 scholarship.
“By far one of the more coveted team awards at the state tournament is the sportsmanship trophy, and this year Milford was selected by the coaches, range officials and event coordinators as the team that exemplified sportsmanship the best,” Milford Head Coach Jim Wissenburg said. “This is the first time that Milford has won this award, and I couldn’t be more proud of our team and coaches.”
The state shoot also recognizes the top 12 girls and top 12 boys who are designated as Academic Archers by their teams and then post scores that place them in the top 12 in the female or male divisions.
Four Milford archers were named to the prestigious 24-member 2023 Academic All-State Team, including Autumn Wissenburg, Jay Wissenburg, Ayla Salistean and Natalie Nutzman.
Both the IBO 3D and the bullseye teams qualified for the National NASP tournament. The 3D team got the automatic bid by winning the tournament, and the bullseye team qualified by shooting a qualifying score.
Several students earned guaranteed spots at nationals by placing in the top 10 of their divisions. The following students earned guaranteed spots at nationals:
NASP IBO/3D
Autumn Wissenburg, Ayla Salistean, Natalie Nutzman, Jay Wissenburg, Sydney Havlat, Chris Wissenburg, Allie Gerdes, Zephyr Mowinkel and Avery Langenfeld
NASP Bullseye
Autumn Wissenburg, Ayla Salistean, Natalie Nutzman, Jay Wissenburg, Dane Kolb and Chris Wissenburg
The Milford team will now prepare to attend the Western National Tournament held near Salt Lake City, Utah, the last weekend in April.
