Several local schools around the area participated in the Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks program that support AIMS for the State Archery Championship.

Archery has quickly gained in popularity among students in both public and independent school systems in Mississippi with more than 50,000 students now participating.

AIMS was designed to introduce fourth through 12th graders to the sport of archery during their physical education class or as a school team sport. The program promotes international-style target archery as part of the in-school curriculum to improve educational performance and participation in shooting sports.

This sport continues to grow in Lincoln County, Franklin County, Lawrence County and Copiah County as several schools competed for the State Championship.

Franklin County and Lawrence County are becoming veterans in archery competition as both schools just captured their third straight state championship.

In other schools of local interest, Bogue Chitto also competed in high school archery. The Bobcats finished ninth in the Class 1A division with a score of 2,959.

In Class 2A competition, Enterprise placed fourth overall with a final score of 3,132 and West Lincoln finished eighth with a final score of 3,039.

In the middle school archery event, North Pike placed fifth with a score of 250 in the Class 1A Division.

In the Class 2A Middle school division, Topeka-Tilton finished in first place with a score of 3,084 and fourth in the elementary division with a score of 2,877. West Lincoln placed fifth with a score of 2,939 in the Middle school division.

In 2A private school competition, Brookhaven Academy placed third.