Yukon Archery had eight competitors shoot at the B.C. Indoor Archery Championships this weekend at the West Shore Curling Complex in Victoria.

The archers competed with either a compound or a recurve bow and in different age categories. Coach Warren Kapaniuk said it was a successful weekend for the athletes.

“We did really well,” said Kapaniuk. “The kids were happy with their performances. They shot what they would shoot in Whitehorse.”

For two of the athletes, Samuel Bugg and Mitchell Rudolph it was their first Outside competition. Bugg competed with a compound bow in the cadet (15, 16, 17) age division. Rudolph shot a recurve in the cub (13-14) age category.

As well, the Yukon Canada Winter Games archers competed in B.C. Kapaniuk told the Star in February that it was the most successful Games for the archery team.

The success carried over to the B.C. Championships. Vincent Ménard placed seventh at the Games in Red Deer and placed first in his age category on the weekend. He shoots a compound bow in the junior (18-19) age category. He placed first over the weekend.

Sofija Jewell, a cadet shooting with a compound, also came in first. She was fifth at the CWG.

Cadet recurve archer Emma Tom Tom, 10th at the CWG, was the second place finisher in Victoria.

Ninth place finisher at the Games was cadet Wyatt Kapaniuk. He came in fifth at the B.C. Archery Championships even after changing to all new equipment after the CWG, which Warren Kapaniuk said is difficult to do.

The other four archers at the Championships were also incredibly successful.

Emmett Kapaniuk was the second place finisher in the cub compound category. Bugg in his first competition was fifth in cadet compound. Rudolph, shooting cub recurve, grabbed third and Alan Hanson was the Masters recurve winner.

Because the club is not affiliated with B.C. Archery the competitors shot in the guest category.

However, they still tallied their scores in with the B.C., archers and Kapaniuk said the Yukon archers would have still placed the same.

Kapaniuk said it was good competition and it featured the B.C. CWG team as well people are starting to notice the Yukon archers.

“For a lot of those people the CWG was the first time seeing our archers,” said Kapaniuk.

“Compounds surprised a lot of people.”

Kapaniuk has been the coach of the team for four years and said the team is really becoming competitive.

“It is really becoming a sport where we can go compete Outside,” he said. “We’ve got some really good young archers.

We are starting to see that we can go and compete Outside.

“We’ve got the same equipment and shoot the same distances. We can go out and compete now. It’s not just all about having fun and seeing a new place now.”

It was the second time Yukon Archery has had a team compete in B.C.

“It was our best results throughout the whole team,” said Kapaniuk. “Practice pays off.”

Looking to make some extra cash all the archers competed in the money shoot on Saturday.

They all put $20 into the pot and highest score won. The different bows competed against each other but their was no age categories.

Ménard finished third in male compound and Jewell second in female compound.

The archers will have one more indoor competition, the Yukon Indoor Champions in May, before turning their attention outdoors.

Outdoor shooting Kapaniuk said offers more challenges due to weather conditions and greater distances to shoot. For indoor, the distance to the target is 18 metres, outdoors it will exceed 30.