The Lincoln County High School girls’ archery team is bad to the bow.

The Lady Patriots dominated the competition at the 2019 KHSAA Region 9 Girls Tournament, bringing home bragging rights and a championship title by beating out eight other teams.

The Lincoln team took aim at first during the regional shoot held at Wayne County High School in Monticello. The top seven Lincoln archers scored 1,997 points, with 123 tens to earn the win.

The Lady Patriots were led by freshman Emmalee Patterson who shot a 294 out of 300. She had 25 tens. Patterson’s score earned her the individual runner-up trophy, placing her second out of 71 shooters.

Jessica Tucker, a sophomore from McCreary Central High School, won the girls competition with a 295. Ragan Shelton, a junior from Wayne County High School, and Bailey Robinson, a junior at Mercer County High School, both scored 293 in the competition, but Shelton took the third-place spot with 25 tens compared to 23 tens for Robinson. Madison Loveless, a Pulaski County High School senior, rounded out the top five with a score of 291.

Pulaski County finished as runner-up behind Lincoln in the shoot with a score of 1,986. Host Wayne County was third with 1,954, Mercer County placed fourth with 1,951 and McCreary Central rounded out the top five with 1,926.

Along with Patterson, the top five Lincoln shooters were McKenzie Settles, Katie Martin, Brooklyn Garrett and Sierra Downey. Settles, a sophomore, posted a score of 289, Martin, an eighth-grader, had a 288, Garrett, a junior, had a 285 and Downey, a sophomore, scored a 284.

All 12 of the Lady Patriot archers scored Top 10 finishes in their grade division at the state competition, including two first-place finishes.

Patterson, Lincoln’s top scorer, was also tops in the 9th Grade Girls Division and Martin took first in the 8th Grade Division.

The other Top 10 shooters, by grade division, were:

12th Grade: Taylor Wesley, 10th place, 229.

11th Grade: Brooklyn Garrett, 4th, 285; Madelynn Durham, 8th, 276.

10th Grade: McKenzie Settles, 3rd, 289; Sierra Downey, 5th, 284; Lindsey Phillips, 6th, 277; Jennifer Radcliff, 9th, 272.

9th Grade: Alideya Paul, 6th, 280; Alexis Adams, 10th, 274.

7th Grade: Kayln Peek, 10th, 256.

With the win, the Lincoln girls now advance to the state tournament, which will be held April 30 at Ephram White Gymnasium in Bowling Green.

The Lady Patriots won’t be the only Lincoln team hitting the shooting range at the state tourney, though. The Patriots also fared very well in the regional tournament at Wayne County, earning themselves a state berth with a runner-up finish in the Region 9 shoot.

The Lincoln boys and the team from Pulaski County High School both finished with a score of 2,003, however, Pulaski claimed first place and the regional title by getting more tens than Lincoln. The Maroons had 137 tens in the competition and the Patriots had 129.

Mercer County High School placed third overall with a score of 1,964, McCreary Central High School was fourth with 1,960 and Southwestern High School rounded out the top five with 1,954.

Sophomore Gavin Fowler posted the high score for Lincoln’s 12-man team, shooting a 295 to place him second overall out of 80 archers. The score ranked him first in his grade division.

A total of eight Patriot archers, including Fowler, scored Top 10 finishes in their grade division at the regional competition. Included among those Top 10 finishes were three first-place efforts. Fowler had one of the firsts, but Jacob Holtzclaw and Leevi Warren also finished at the top of their respective classes. Holtzclaw was first in the 11th Grade Division with a 291 while Warren claimed the top spot in the 8th Grade Division with a 282.

Mason Gastineau, Lincoln’s second-best scorer at region, ranked third in the 10th Grade Boys division with a score of 292.

The other Top 10 Patriot shooters were:

12th Grade: James Shaddox, 7th, 280.

11th Grade: Garrett Robertson, 7th, 279; Bret Edgington, 9th, 270.

10th Grade: John Hughes, 6th, 284.

Rounding out the Lincoln boys region scoring were: Jacob Schuler, freshman, 265; Parker Estep, sophomore, 264; Nathan Parrett, eighth-grader, 263; and Dakota Floyd, eighth-grader, 256.