MacArthur archery team gets new bows

LAWTON, Okla. (TNN) -MacArthur High School's archery team received some new bows recently.

They were paid for by a grant given to the top 25 archery teams in the state, out of over 500.

The MacArthur High School Archery team has been hard at work practicing with their new bows.

“They’re the bows that you get to go to the Olympics with,” said team captain, Briana Perkins. “They’re called hunting bows, so they’re a lot more powerful than the ones that we’ve had before.”

“They have the sights on them and the releases,” said coach Rafael Santos. “And these bows can actually be used to hunt because they go up to 40 pounds. We shoot them from 20 to 25.”

Compared to their traditional bows, there’s a lot more to these. Each one cost around 300 dollars. Coach Santos says it took them about a week to get the hang of it.

“It was a little adjustment at first,” said Santos. "Because their release point is a little different when they’re not used to using a sight, it takes a little time to do it.

“It was kind of weird at first because we had never shot them before,” said Perkins. “But after shooting with them, and getting used to them, it’s been really cool.”

The school received a grant to purchase the 10 bows through several programs including the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife and Conservation, the National Wildlife Turkey Federation, and several others. Santos says its a testament to how hard the kids have worked.

“It shows a lot on the program. These kids work very hard,” said Santos. “They try to be one of the top teams in the state. Right now we qualify to go to the grand state tournament. So it just shows our commitment to it.”

They’ll use the new bows for the first time at Grand State in Tulsa in February.

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