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Montrose Archery Going to Nationals

Madilynn Rhinevault can handle a bow. After all, at just 13 years old, she’s the defending archery 3D World Champion. “Everyone is good at something...
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Madilynn Rhinevault can handle a bow. After all, at just 13 years old, she's the defending archery 3D World Champion.

"Everyone is good at something and for a lot of people, including me, archery is that thing," Rhinevault said. "I don't know how to explain it. It's just something that comes to me."

It's easy to see. She doesn't miss. While Rhinevault's talent is exceptional, her passion for archery is actually becoming common in Montrose. Just ask her dad, co-head coach, Brad Rhinevault.

"The sport is amazing," Brad said. "It really has exploded out throughout the country. It's such a great program for the kids."

And not just his kid. Between elementary, middle and high school, Montrose has 72 archers. 117 tried out. They had to make cuts.

"Archery is a program where kids who aren't necessarily good football players or basketball players can compete and they're all very good at it," said Tom Oleniacz, the Meteors' other Co-Head Archery Coach. "If they practice hard, they can become state champions."

Even at 11 years old. Aiden Sprouce, Ava Castrogiovanni - 5th graders, state champions.

"That night, me and my friends went up to one of their rooms and we were dancing to 'The Greatest Showman' music," Castrogiovanni playfully recalled from the night she won the state championship. "Then we were tired. So, we just started laughing at random things."

"Some of these kids shoot better than I do on some days," senior Montrose archer Mercedes Strohl said. "That makes me really proud because I know that our program is going in the best direction that it can."

Chris Snee is the most famous athlete to ever to come from Montrose, but archery is getting so popular here, that those trophies are front and center, and with good reason. In less than a decade, the Meteors have won seven state elementary and middle school titles. They're sending 42 archers to nationals in Louisville this May.

"I'm very proud because it's putting us on the map," junior archer Zachery Oleniacz said. "It's showing that there's something here that's unique."

But for Rhinevault, it doesn't end there.

"Going to Nationals is really huge, but I'd just really like to make it to Worlds this year in Nashville," she said.

And defend her 3D World Title this June.

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