August-September 2025 • Nebraskaland 51
another six runner-up fi nishes. Their elementary and middle
school teams also have two state titles and six runner-up
fi nishes combined. When possible, the high school team
travels to the Eastern National Tournament. This year, it
placed 84th out of 265 teams.
"A lot of these little low budget schools, they don't get a
chance to really go out and make a name for themselves in
sports and stuff ," said senior Michael Geckle, who shot his
personal best of 293 out of 300 to fi nish 25th among 2,554
high school boys at the national tournament. "Archery, they
can kind of resort to and become famous like we did.
"And it gives everyone a good chance to work as a team
because in other sports, it's mainly one position as the star of
the show. So as a team here, you can really uplift each other
and encourage the entire school to bring their game up."
Bishop Mark Pivarunas, a bowhunter himself, was already
teaching archery to Mater Dei students with a hodge-podge of
sighted bows when the school joined NASP. The basic NASP
equipment, and having the students shoot instinctively,
simplifi ed things and made it challenging as well. "For me,
I enjoy the children getting better and better and feeling a
sense of self-accomplishment," Pivarunas said.
Students practice daily in the church basement. Girls in
the boarding program have a target range outside of their
dorm. "If you want to be really good, you've got to practice a
lot," Pivarunas said. "And if you want to be the best, you've
Safety offi cial Nick Fischer, assistant
superintendent at Indian Cave State Park,
helps archers score their targets during
the 2024 Nebraska National Archery in the
Schools Program State Tournament at the
Sandhills Global Event Center in Lincoln.
