FOLEY, Ala. - The Foley Intermediate School archery team traveled to Louisville, Ky. this past weekend to compete in a national tournament, where they finished 20th out of 80 teams and continued to put Lions archery on the map as a state and national powerhouse.

The Lions' team score was a 3,094, which is an improvement from last year's performance at the national competition when they finished 26th place and shot below a 3,000. They finished as the highest-scoring elementary team from the state of Alabama.

Head coach Ryan Anderson said the Foley archers were nervous heading into the competition, and if the Lions would have done as well as they did in their elementary division state championship performance in April, shooting a 3,139, they would have finished around 10th.

"The team really enjoyed themselves, though," Anderson said, noting the goal going into the national competition was around 3,200 and the team was disappointed, but the performance was still solid and he is proud of the accomplishment.

Anderson said some of the techniques used to have a solid archery shot is to hold the bow still the entire time and release the shot from the same point.

"The main tendency is to drop the bow or swing it (during the shot). You can't flop it all around," he said. "I teach them to bring it to the corner of the mouth, the tip of the nose or the cheek. If they bring it too high, the arrow goes low and if they bring it too low the arrow misses high."

Each of the 24 archers Foley Intermediate sent to the event shot three sets from 10 meters and another three from 15 meters, with each set consisting of five shots and each shooter getting 30 shots in total.

Each circle on the target indicates a score between one and 10 points. Hitting the smallest circle in the center is a perfect 10, with each larger circle being less. A perfect score in a set of five shots is 50 and a perfect round of shooting is a 300 score.

The top 12 scores are taken to add up the team's score, and at least four must be from each gender.

"You can have eight boys and four girls or eight girls and four boys," Anderson said. "You can't have 12 boys as your team score."

With a score of 3,094, the Lion archers taken for the team score averaged around a 260. Shelby Anderson, a fifth grade female, and Dalton Anderson, a fourth grade male, finished third in their grade and gender. Shelby scored a 279 and Dalton a 280. Coach Anderson said they were honored on stage at the national event with a plaque, medal and target.

The Lions archery team includes members from fourth, fifth and sixth grades, and there are 15 fifth graders returning to lead the team as sixth graders.

The season is not over as the Lions will travel to Orlando, Fla. for a world tournament in October. They also competed in the event last year.

The team raises money to fund the trips, and donations are being accepted for the travel to Orlando. Donations can be sent to the school at 2000 South Cedar St. The phone number is (251) 943-1244.