In just four short years as a program, the Becker Bulldogs archery program is already making a name for itself across Minnesota.  The program is not just excelling in numbers, but also in terms of quality, as the team has already claimed an elementary age state championship and a third place state finish in the middle school division.

“We’re only in our fourth year, but we are already the largest team in the state,” Program Director Scott Brake said. “We have 203 participants, as well as 35 active coaches and over 20 sponsors... we just continue to grow as a program.”

The program operates at three levels, including elementary (grades four and five), middle (grades six-eight) and high school (nine-12), and is part of the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP). 

Brake says that the after school program is only allowed to participate if the school district has archery as part of its Physical Education program, something that has been done at Becker Middle School for the past five years. This year, it is being implemented at the Intermediate School as well.

“None of this would be happening if it wasn’t for our great support from Becker schools, our administration and Community Education,” Brake added.  

One of the reasons that the program is so popular is the flexible schedule, which allows for students to participate in other activities while still maintaining membership in the archery program.

“Our practice model allows for maximum flexibility and that is something the kids really enjoy,” Brake said.

The school program was started five years ago as a result of a matching grant from the DNR, who ultimately oversees the state wide after school program.

Brake says Becker has been successful in hosting its own tournament, the Becker Meltdown, which this year was held March fifth and brought over 740 competitions to town for the competition. Two weeks later, Becker hosted the South Region three tournament and again drew the same huge number of archers.

From there, the Becker teams competed in the state tournament in Duluth, where the elementary team won the state title and the middle school team finished in third place. Over 120 archers from Becker competed against 1,400 archers from across Minnesota. Despite the stellar competition, the Bulldogs showed impressive results.

“We’ve very proud of how well our teams competed against the top competition in the state,” Brake said. 

Top finishers from Becker included Bentley Trautner, who shot a 283 (out of 300 possible points) to capture the state championship in the elementary boys category.  Mason Lumley finished in 3rd place (274) and Blake Koubsky was fourth with 268 points.

“Taking three of the top four places out of 134 competitors is pretty impressive,” Brake said.

In the girls bracket, Mirra Koubsky placed third in state (262), while Dru Johnson was fifth (255) out of 101 competitors.

In the middle school category, Ayden Trautner (seventh grade) shot a 282 to place fifth out of 335 competitors, while the high school team posted a 14th place finish at state, their top showing in team history.

While the season kicks off with registration in October and practices starting in November, the competitions are held in mostly February and March.  

But Brake stresses that it is not to late for kids to get started this year, as there will be summer opportunities offered through Community Education.

“We will have some classes offered for kids who want to participate this summer,” Brake said.

The program has grown faster than the leaders could have imagined, but Brake and the other organizers already have some additional goals in mind for the program.

“We would like to build an outdoor range for the kids and adults to use right here in Becker,” Brake said, noting that other communities such as Milaca have developed their own sites in recent years. “We want to work with the city or the county to establish something that the public could use right here in our community.”

With the numbers continuing to grow, it’s a likely bet the program would keep the range busy with archers of all ages.