Magnet Cove High School doubles up on archery state championships with win in 3D discipline

PANGBURN — Magnet Cove High School’s archers continued their 2025 domination in the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Archery in the Schools Program Saturday by winning the Arkansas State International Bowhunting Organization Challenge at Pangburn High School with a total score of 1,678 of a possible 1,800 points, giving them a sweep of the AIS state championships Magnet Cove also won the AIS’ bull’s-eye state championship held in Hot Springs March 8.
The race for second and third place for the IBO Challenge was tightly contested, with Alpena High School nudging out the host team, Pangburn High School, by only 4 points. Alpena scored 1,608 while Pangburn dropped only an arrow or two behind to claim third with a score of 1,604.
Washington Middle School took first place in the Middle School Division with a score of 1,668. Barton Junior High scored 1,616 to claim second place, and Pangburn High School’s middle school team placed third with a score of 1,589.
Charleston Elementary won the Elementary Division IBO Challenge with a team score of 1,472. Washington Middle School came in second place with a score of 1,448, and Columbia Christian School took third place with a total score of 1,336 points.
Unlike the bull’s-eye competition held March 7-8 at the Hot Springs Convention Center, archers in the AIS IBO Challenge shoot at lifelike 3D targets of popular game animals. Instead of focusing on a central bull’s-eye, the archers try to hit the “sweet spot” on the animal targets, which would ensure an ethical harvest in a real hunting scenario. The bow, arrows and allowed equipment, however, are identical to those used during the field archery competition.
“Instead of shooting six rounds (called ends) at a single round target, the archers will shoot at six different animal-shaped targets,” Aimee Swaim, AGFC Archery in the Schools Program coordinator, said. “If they hit the main body of the target, it’s 7 points, then there are scoring rings inside of the animal’s vital area where a hunter would want to hit in the field with a 10 being an excellent shot on the animal in the real world. Any arrow that misses the target or hits an extremity is counted as a zero.”
This is only the second year for the AGFC’s AIS program to host a statewide IBO Challenge, and its popularity has skyrocketed.

“Last year we had about 360 students participate in the IBO challenge,” Swaim said. “This year we had more than 700 archers register for a 102 percent increase in a single year. We even had to expand our state tournament into Pangburn’s additional gymnasium to house all of the students who needed to shoot.”
In its second year, the 3D portion of Arkansas’s Archery in the Schools program already is ranked fourth in the nation in participation.
IBO Vice President Ryan Bass was encouraged by the fast growth of the sport in The Natural State.
“The International Bowhunting Organization was excited to be in Arkansas to assist AGFC with their state-level IBO 3D,” Bass said. “Arkansas [National Archery in the Schools Program] has grown substantially over the last year and it is apparent that the agency can see that 3D archery is a clear step to getting our youth archers into the outdoor lifestyle that we all cherish.”
Magnet Cove’s Mark Smith led the team in this state championship with an impressive 290 out of a possible 300 points. Smith secured a $500 scholarship from the International Bowhunting Organization for his accomplishment. Fellow Magnet Cove Panther and top overall performer in the bull’s-eye state championship, Cash Hignight, finished in third place, losing the tie-breaker for second with Travis Cook of Lead Hill High School. Both Cook and Hignight scored 288, but Cook prevailed in the tie-breaker.
Maddie Johnson of Charleston High School took the top individual archer spot on the female side of the High School Division. Johnson, who came in second during the state bull’s-eye competition, tied her score of 285 out of a possible 300, which was more than enough to stand alone atop the leaderboard at the end of Saturday’s shoot. Johnson also received a $500 scholarship courtesy of IBO for her effort. Ella Curry of Alpena High School took second place with a total score of 281, and Holly Chandler from Magnet Cove High School held the third-place trophy with a score of 279.