With an increasing number of school closures around the state in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) announces that it must cancel its Missouri National Archery in the Schools (MoNASP) virtual state tournament.
A news release says MDC and the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation (MCHF) announced last week that the 2020 Missouri National Archery in Schools Program (MoNASP) state tournament scheduled for March 19-21 at the Branson Convention Center in Branson was changed to a virtual tournament where participating student archers can compete at their local schools and teams can submit scores.
MDC MoNASP Coordinator Eric Edwards noted that trying to determine a fair system of a virtual state tournament with so many schools and competitors unable to compete at this time was simply impossible.
Edwards added that all teams and student archers who competed in a state-qualifying event will be eligible to preregister for the National Archery in the Schools (NASP) national championship and will be placed in their tier based on their highest score in a state-qualifying tournament that took place this season, including the current virtual qualifying tournament listed at nasptournaments.org. The National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) national tournament is scheduled for May 7-9 in Louisville.
Edwards said schools will only be eligible to have one team qualify for nationals. If you were an individual shooter, your high score will count. If you were part of a team, your individual score for the national-tier setting will be the score you shot when your team posted its highest score.
For those who have registered for the virtual tournament, but are unable to participate, Edwards asks school administrators to email him at Eric.Edwards@mdc.mo.gov stating they are unable to participate due to school policies. Upon receiving the email, schools, teams and participants will not be responsible for any fees for the virtual tournament.
For more information on MoNASP, contact Edwards via e-mail or via phone at (573) 522-4115, ext. 3295.