Logan Kelly: Champion Student Archer, Iowa

Logan Kelly excels in archery and holds almost all of the Mount Vernon High School male archery records. Logan is the only archer in the world to shoot a perfect 300 in 3D. He has won a State Championship in 3D, competed internationally and holds 10 individual state titles, all before graduating from High School. Video created by Cooper Bechtold, Nolan Brand, Garrett Hormann, and Thomas Meineke

Logan Kelly: [0:06] I won state overall in 2015. And that's my favorite moment because it kind of put me above everybody else.

Chad Kelly: [0:21] How he really started out was we were at a friend's party, birthday party, and they had archery and they asked Logan if he wanted to shoot and they asked me and I said "It doesn't matter to me." I said, "That's up to the kids." You know. If he wants to shoot. It's him and his sister. And when he came back in two of the coaches were there and they said, "We want those two on our team. Can they be on the archery team?" Once again I said, "It's up to you." And he wanted to, he was really excited. He did an awesome job. Well, when he first started he really liked it and was pretty good at it right from the first get-go when he picked up the bow. So, I think he wanted to get better so he went out on his own and just he practiced every night.

Tom Wilkinson: [1:20] As far as success at you know, individual tournaments and state and nationals. Yeah, he is one of the best I've ever had. And then he also, you know, takes other people under his wing and tries to help them out. Yeah. and give them some advice. And he helps out the team a lot too, for our team scores. So, yes kind of those three different levels of contribution.

Chad Kelly: [1:51]  He won his division but then Top 5 at nationals to go on to become All-Stars. And he missed that by one position. So, that drove him further till the next year when he was in eighth grade. His mission was to be the best in the world. And he went out and did it. In eighth grade he went down to nationals, like I said he was on a mission, he practiced everyday sometimes twice a day. His goal was to go win it. So, he did that.

Logan Kelly: [2:33] And then nationals as a eighth grader, I won three national titles. I was in a scholarship shoot off and won $20,000 and I was also named apart of the U.S All-Star team.

Tom Wilkinson: [2:50] All-Stars was just a great opportunity.

Logan Kelly: [2:58] It was my best experience because I was with the most elite people in the world.

Chad Kelly: [3:08] I'm certainly proud of him and what he did and without that experience- He took me to a whole other country by his skill. I was able to go do it and experience it with him. It was probably the neatest thing as a parent.

Logan Kelly: [3:28]  We normally get medals at tournaments but sometimes you get a trophy but it's not very common. And then at bigger tournaments like state and nationals you get plaques. I have, like, 73 or 74 medals. I have 22 or 23 plaques. I prepare for the competitions by listening to music or sometimes I'll do some stretches just to loosen up. I compete in both 3-D and Bullseye. But the 3-D is not as common because just most tournaments or I should say most schools don't really have 3-D animals 'Cause there kind of expensive and most schools just don't have it. So, bullseye is defiantly a lot more common. But, I still do 3-D. 3-D is six foam targets that are placed in a diagonal row and you shoot at 10 through 15 meters. There unknown distances. Bullseye is a target that has a score from 10 to one. And if you miss the one ring then it's a zero. But we shoot three rounds at 10 meters and we move back and shoot three rounds at 15 meters. My highest three score is a 300 that I shot last summer.

Chad Kelly: [4:52] And Logan shot a perfect 300. Which has never been done before by anybody in the world.

Logan Kelly: [5:10] Shooting my 300 in 3-D was really shocking because I didn't expect to shoot it that day 'cause the conditions weren't very good. We were also outside so that brought wind, sun, uneven ground and when I shot it I was really nervous my last round and then I shot it and I got excited but I was still mainly in shock.

Chad Kelly: [5:37] And by doing that and finishing first in nationals on bullseye and 3-D. He was invited to the All-Stars again. The second year in a row. And another thing that made me pretty proud, as a parent, was he was nominated an athlete of the week, for Channel 9, and he was up against two seniors and as a freshmen, as a archer, I didn't think he had a chance. But he came out and ended up gettin' it.

Logan Kelly: [6:09] I ended up winning athlete of the week.

Tom Wilkinson: [6:11] He continues to work and to me that's the best thing to see as a coach is that desire to keep learning, keep growing, and just maintain that level of excellency.

Logan Kelly: [6:25] After high school I would plan on shooting Olympic Recurve or some other different types of bow. And if I don't do that, I'd like to do an internship on NASP. Which is like the whole nation basically, our archery program.

Chad Kelly: [6:44] I think he's been given a God-given talent in archery that he should follow. No matter if he decides to go the same route as NASP and go on to college or if he wants to switch and go to a Olympic style bow.

Asset ID: 2018.09
Themes: Sports, parenting, determination, hard work, archery, competition
Date recorded: 2018
Length of recording: 7:21 m
Related traveling exhibition: Hometown Teams: How Sports Shape America
Sponsor or affiliated organization: Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Development Group (CDG), Mount Vernon, Iowa
More information: https://museumonmainstreet.org/blog-node/j-term-class-highlights-their-iowa-hometown-stories-yes