COLTON MULLINS-WAGONER ARCHERY
Wagoner sophomore Colton Mullins was seemingly born with a bow and arrow in his hands and that love for archery paid off this year as he claimed the state high school archery championship with a score of 298 in a competition that was a little different this year.
For Colton it was just another step in what’s been a family sporting tradition.
“My friends and family have always been into bow hunting and fishing, so I got started early. When I was about 10, I got my first bow and then moved on to my first compound bow and then joined the archery team in eighth grade,” said Colton.
The state competition was different this year according to archery instructor Janet Lane who has run the program at Wagoner since 2011 and had a tier two team championship team last year.
“The state meet is normally held at the Tulsa fairgrounds but because of the bad weather in February, this year’s meet was done virtually in our gym. Normally you would a line of 20-30 archers in a line shooting at targets in the expo center with lots of noise. But with the change this year we just a few schools shooting in our gym and it was a much calmer atmosphere.”
Competing virtually had its pluses and minuses said the state champ.
“Being virtual took a lot of the chaos out of it and I was around friends in a familiar setting, but I wish it would have been a big tournament where you could get on the stage with everyone you’ve competed against all these years. It was a heck of an experience.”
With the win, Colton will go on to compete at the national tournament in Kentucky in May and the world championship, which he was the first Wagoner archer to qualify for last year, in South Carolina this summer. In addition to archery, Colton is also on the tennis, wrestling, football and fishing teams and enjoys outdoor activities like hunting, fishing motocross and snowboarding.
