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Barton County 4-H Hosts Winter Classic
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Archery - Barton County Archery members Rebekah Harmon and Jayla Wyant compete in Bowhunter FITA.

Barton County 4-H shooting sports leaders hosted the 11th annual Barton County 4-H Winter Classic on Saturday, February 21, at the Expo Complex. In the air rifle division, the scores at the end of the day were Sedgwick County – 2004 and Barton County – 2004. The tie was broken on the number of bulls shot by the four team members. Sedgwick County had 38 and Barton County had 34. The team members for Barton County were Parker Smith, Ryan Kohman, Katelyn Reh, and Lake Lyman. It was a very competitive match and all participants were congratulated on their hard work.
In the 7 to 10 year old group, the top five placings went to Barton County members.  1st - Parker Dicks, 2nd – Tate Martin, 3rd - Caylee Rowan, 4th – Caden Rowan, 5th – Cayman Rowan. In the 11-12 year old age group, Will Clark placed 2nd, Dalton Dicks placed 4th, Logan Hammeke placed 6th and Woodson Corbett placed 7th. In the 13-15 year old division, Parker Smith placed 3rd, Katelyn Reh placed 4th, Jace Schwager placed 7th, Alivia Bautista placed 9th and Jolaine Rolofson placed 11th. In the 16 and over age group, Ryan Kohman placed 2nd, Lake Lyman placed 5th, Caleb Straub placed 7th and Aron Vainer placed 9th.
The top placing individual in each age group for each position was awarded a gold medal. In the youngest age group, the top placing in prone and standing went to Parker Dicks and kneeling went to Caden Rowan. In the 11-12 age group, top place in prone  was Will Clark, standing and kneeling both went to Logan Armbrister, Ellis County. The top shooters in the 13-15 age group in standing went to Parker Smith and in prone and kneeling the top went to Gaven Cline, Sedgwick County. In the 16 and over age group, Bryce Nichols from Post Rock-Beloit was top in the prone and standing position and Jacquelin Wood, Sedgwick County was top in the kneeling position.
There were 39 participants from 8 counties. The next competitions for the air rifle members will be at Gray County on February 28th, Ellis County on March 7th and Pawnee County on March 21st.
The Archery competition was held in Expo III. Members were allowed to compete in two of the four disciplines (Barebow, Open, Bowhunter and Olympic).
In Recurve Barebow FITA and 3D, Colton McPherson was the top junior archer placing first in FITA and in 3D. Harrison VanMeter from Pawnee County placed second. Robert Frizell was the top senior archer in both FITA and 3D.
In Recurve Olympic, AJ Moshier placed first in FITA and 3D and Robert Frizell placed second.
The Bowhunter discipline was divided into 3 age groups. In the 7-10 age group, Jayla Wyant placed first in FITA and in 3D.  Jace Riese place second in both FITA and 3D. Rynn Harmon placed third in FITA and fourth in 3D. In the 11-13 age division, Harrison VanMeter placed first in FITA and third in 3D. Woodson Corbett placed first in 3D and second in FITA.  Colton McPherson placed second in 3D and third in FITA. Rebekah Harmon placed fourth. In the senior age group, AJ Moshier placed second in FITA and in 3D. Thomas Harmon placed third in both FITA and 3D. Alivia Bautista placed sixth in Bowhunter.
In the intermediate Compound Open division, Rebekah Harmon placed first in both FITA and 3D. In the senior compound division Thomas Harmon placed first in both the FITA and 3D.
The 4-H Shooting Sports Program uses the skills and disciplines of shooting to assist young people and their leaders to attain knowledge and develop essential life skills.
In learning the rules of firearms safety and safe firearms handling, a young person will learn decision-making, develop an inquiring mind, and acquire and cultivate a knowledge of wildlife and natural resources. They will also learn skills such as social interactions and communication skills.
Barton County has a dedicated team of shooting sports leaders who have worked with the 4-H members since October. All shooting sports leaders must be certified by attending the state three-day training. Leaders certified in air rifle are John Reh, Jeff Clark, Scott Smith, Steve Schultz, Jim Kohman, Brian Rowan, Frank Ochs, Leland Miller and Pat Streck. Leaders certified in Archery are Dennis Trapp, Roger McPherson, Bill Abrams, and Kathy McGinnis. Mat Wharton serves as the Barton County 4-H Shooting Sports Coordinator.