Yukon archers are celebrating an outstanding spring competition season with medal-worthy shooting in a variety of events.
Yukon Aboriginal Sports Circle (YASC) archery coach Warren Kapaniuk said that both the YASC Archery Academy team and Team Yukon archers have been active in recent weeks.
He listed the accomplishments: Four national indoor medals, sweeping the gold plus a silver and bronze at the 2024 Arctic Winter Games, an incredible showing at British Columbia provincials and the selection of 3 archers for the Canadian National Youth Team for this year.
The Yukoners selected for the national team are: Shiori Monzo in the U15 recurve bow category, U21 compound bow archer Emmett Kapaniuk and U18 compound archer Delia Therriault. The next big milestone for the national-level archers is a trip to the 2024 Pan Am Championships which are being held in El Salvador from May 6 to 12.
Monzo was among the medalists from the Archery Canada Indoor Championships held on March 2. She won gold in her class as did Mya Wilson and Mikayla Therriault; Dawson Widney picked up a bronze. Rather than gathering at a central location to compete, the championships are held at archery clubs across Canada.
Coach Kapaniuk said that the very next week, Team Yukon was all over the podium for archery events at the Arctic Winter Games.
Over the Easter weekend, nine Yukon archers headed down to Maple Ridge B.C. Indoor Provincials. Kapaniuk said that while Yukon archers aren’t eligible to win medals, some did finish at the top of their class.
“Daniel Mead, Mikayla Therriault (and)Mya Wilson all finished in first place, Dom Watt and Finn Pearson finished second and Kael Epp finished just behind in third.”
While their teammates were in B.C., the Yukon trio that would go on to selection to the national team travelled to Toronto for Team Canada trials. Kapaniuk said it took two days of tight competition but all three archers were offered spots on the team.
“Way to go all Yukon archers for making this the most successful spring season we have ever had,” Kapaniuk wrote in an email to the News
“Big thanks to Lotteries Yukon for helping with travel costs for these archers. And to Air North for getting the archers and gear where they need to go. Thanks to YASC Archery Academy for all the support of these archers over the years.”
Contact Jim Elliot at jim.elliot@yukon-news.com