Tupelo breaks through, wins first archery title

Tupelo High School needs to make room for a state championship trophy in a new sport.

The Golden Wave took home the school’s first state archery title on Tuesday at the Class 7A state championship at the Mississippi Horse Park in Starkville. Tupelo finished with a final score of 3370.

“It's kind of been in motion for a while now,” Tupelo coach Brad Pressley said. “We came up just short last year, got runner-up, and had a couple of third- and fourth-place finishes where we were just a couple of points out of the running for it, so I'm glad my team was finally able to make it over that hump.”

Tupelo finished 54 points ahead of D’Iberville, which was the four-time defending champion heading into this season.

Getting over the hump involved the upperclassmen teaching the underclassmen the basics of the sport and how to handle the mental side. The upperclassmen also brought a strong focus on winning.

“They play other sports and have won championships in other sports. So they kind of knew what it took to have that championship mentality,” Pressley said. “And they kind of just passed it on down to the new lowerclassmen that I had, and it just all came together in the end.”

Among those upperclassmen was senior Brodie Warren, whose 289 was not only the best mark on the team but was eighth in the state regardless of class. He was followed by junior Peyton Collins and his 288, which was good for 11th overall.

“They were just locked in from day one after coming so close to winning it last year,” Pressley said of the team. “And I lost a big group of seniors last year, and it just really felt like that, from Day 1, there was a focus on getting to a championship level.”

Two other area schools won titles.

Kossuth won Class II with a 3269. The Aggies were led by Lathan Haupt, who finished with a 283. Walnut finished atop Class I after shooting 3358, which was the third-best mark in the entire state. The Wildcats were paced by Dylan Rider’s 292 points, which was good for third overall.