Monroe teen archer makes her mark at state championship

Rather than pursuing cheerleading or softball like some teenage girls, Monroe's Cailin White chose archery; she's been making her mark ever since.

A member of the Nock & Fire 4-H club and the Next Step Archery Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD) club, 17-year-old Cailin has been shooting recurve archery since 2010. Her 13-year-old sister Erin also shoots, as does their mom, Lisa.

Lisa decided to take up the sport after watching her daughters become involved in 4-H, having enjoyed archery when she was in high school. She began attending the 4-H meetings, which are held every Tuesday at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds.-á

"They needed more help, and so I ended up getting certified,GÇ¥ Lisa said. "I'm now a level three coach, and so I help with the 4-H group and I shoot.GÇ¥

Representing the Nock & Fire club during the Washington State 4-H Shooting Sports Championship held in May, Cailin and Erin won their respective age divisions, becoming state champions in senior (14-19) and intermediate (11-13) recurve. They also took gold medals in the team recurve competition, along with teammate Sam Koch, who won the junior division (age 8-10).

In order to keep their skills up, Cailin and Erin practice frequently on targets set up in their back yard. Cailin's 68-inch Hoyt recurve bow stands taller than she.

"We do a lot of practicing,GÇ¥ Cailin said. "Leading up to nationals, I shot pretty much every day.GÇ¥ -á -á

As the Washington State Senior Recurve Champion, Cailin was invited to compete in June at the National 4-H Shooting Sports Tournament in Grand Island, Neb.

Spread out over four days, the competition included three different disciplines of target shooting including FITA, Field and 3-D.

The first day of the competition was challenging, because Cailin became extremely ill after arriving in Nebraska with her mother.

"For a while there, I was thinking she's going to be too sick to compete,GÇ¥ Lisa said.

Cailin and her mother suspect some sort of food poisoning, because she began to feel better after her first day on June 21. She managed to compete in field archery the next day, coming in 17th out of a total of 51 recurve archers.

By day two, Cailin said she was feeling more on her game.-á

"The second day we had FITA, which I like the best,GÇ¥ Cailin said. "We shoot at that colorful target that's kind of like the staple archery target, so that one I'm a little bit more used to. And it's not on a course.GÇ¥

Cailin placed sixth in the FITA completion and took ninth in 3-D competition, which was held on day three.

A podium ceremony was held to celebrate the highest scoring archers each evening. In order for a competitor to earn a spot on the podium, they had to score a top-10 ranking during the day's competition.

Cailin found herself on the podium more times than not. Her combined scores in Field, FITA and 3-D placed her 10th overall at the tournament.-á

"I got on the podium three out of four times,GÇ¥ Cailin said. "I'm happy with that.GÇ¥

Some states combine their JOAD and 4H programs, which resulted in several teams being trained by professional Olympic-level archers, making them fierce competitors, Cailin said. She also has trained with professional Olympic-level archers, such as Timm Hines, through her Next Step Archery JOAD club.

Cailin qualified for nationals last year, but opted to wait a year in order to develop and further refine her skills. As a shooter, she proceeded with caution, because once an athlete has competed in a specific event at nationals, they cannot compete again in that same event.

If Cailin wants to compete at the 4-H nationals next year, she'll have to choose a different shooting sport. The national event features competition in .22 pistol, .22 rifle, air pistol, air rifle and shotgun. Cailin's father owns guns, which gives her the opportunity to practice. -á -á -á -á -á

"I've shot some of his guns a little bit, but I'm not really comfortable with the big guns,GÇ¥ Cailin said. "I can handle pistols and small handgun-type things.GÇ¥

She could also compete in compound archery, which is archery shot with a different type of bow.

Cailin enjoys passing along what she learns from her JOAD coaches to the younger members of 4-H, and is working on obtaining her level one coaching certification. She is looking forward to her senior year at Monroe High School, and plans to attend college after that. She's not sure if the Olympics are in her future or not, because college is a priority.-á -á

"I feel like it would be a little bit difficult to balance the two,GÇ¥ Cailin said. "Going to the Olympics is a really big deal and going to college is also a really big deal to me. So I am just kind of going to take it one step at a time.GÇ¥

For more information on the Nock & Fire 4-H archery club, email nockandfirearchery@gmail.com.