The National Archery in the School’s Program (NASP®) is excited to invite archers and archery teams from participating NASP® schools, and friends and family to the annual 2019 Western Nationals, that will take place April 26-27 at the Salt Lake City Exposition Center, Salt Lake City, Utah. Salt Lake City is known for its Great Salt Lake and its snow-capped peaks of the Wasatch Range. It’s also the new home to NASP®’s Western Tournament which is expected to see approximately 2,200 archers, this year. This semi-new event began in the spring of 2018 to allow archers and their families who reside out west, a more convenient and accessible way to attend and participate at the national tournament. Louisville, KY has been the native host to the national tournament since NASP®’s inception back in 2002, and as attendance was rising, so was the carrying capacity at the Bluegrass’s Expo Center. This was another reason for this popular change. Roy Grimes, CEO and President of NASP® says, “We have committed to and scheduled the “NASP® Western Nationals” for another three years in Salt Lake City. It is our hope this tournament will be hugely popular with NASP® schools in the Western U.S. and provide opportunity for thousands to participate in this “culminating event” that otherwise would not.”
Spectators and participants, who attend this year’s western event, can expect the same range set up and guidelines from past tournaments. The tournament will include seven competitive, one-hour flights on both Friday and Saturday. The awards ceremony will be held following the last flight on Saturday. Individual and team awards will be presented just like at the eastern tournament, to include: 1st-5th place individual boys and girls, 1st -3rd place teams, and overall runner up boy and girl. The highest-ranking boys and girls will be invited to the scholarship shoot-off for $175,000 worth of scholarship money at the NASP® Open & Championship this summer in Nashville, Tennessee, July 25-27, 2019. Project Director, Kevin Dixon is excited to see this coming year’s turnout. “The first NASP® Western National Tournament, we saw students from over thirty schools participate for the first time in a national event. We look forward to growing the NASP® Western National over the next three years and providing this great opportunity to an ever-increasing number of new schools and students. Thank you to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources for helping NASP® make this event possible.”
Individual archers and archery teams who advance from their state-level tournament can register online at www.nasptournaments.org. Preregistration begins March 11-29, 2019 and will reopen April 1st. Registration closes on April 4th, and all fees are due no later than April 19th. NASP® looks forward to a record-breaking turnout this spring! For more information on NASP® and tournaments, please visit www.naspschools.org or www.nasptournaments.org.