Archers took over the Cranbrook Curling Centre over the weekend to compete in the B.C. Provincial Indoor Championships, as roughly 60 shooters came out to gauge their mastery over the centuries-old sport.

It was the last shoot of the indoor season, as the club, both locally and across the province, begin the shift to the outdoor season as spring nears.

Elaine Johnson, the youth coordinator and coach for the local archery club, said roughly a third of the shooters are local, while others came in from places like the West Coast and even as far as Ft. St. John in northern B.C.

"I would say 30 per cent are from our club, mostly youth, which is awesome," Johnson said.

Athletes are divided up by gender, age and the type of bow used in the competition. Winners are ranked and listed in a chart below the article.

Competition is judged through 10 ends, with athletes firing three arrows an end at targets, to be scored depending on where the projectile lands in the rings. The tournament featured four rounds of 10 ends over two days.

"We have quite a few kids who shoot competitively…four of them have competed nationally, and we've got a few kids who've done regional competitions, and we've got a couple where this is their first shoot," Johnson added.

One of those shooters-Graeme Black-took first place in the Male Cadet Compound category, sharing first place with Adam Pitney with scores tied at 1177.

Black, a Cranbrook resident and member of the local archery club, returned from the B.C. Winter Games in Vernon earlier this year, with two bronze medals to his name.

"I thought I had a great weekend, I'm surprised I didn't drop more points going into competition like usually do," said Black. "All in all, it was an excellent experience, got to meet a few other people that I shot with at the B.C. Winter Games earlier this year."

Black, 16, said while he was happy with the way he shot, he was also surprised at the tie in points with Pitney to share the top spot in their category.

"I had an inkling of how close it would be because we both knew our scores going into the medal presentation, but I didn't know it was that close,"

Fellow club member Darby Dean took first place in the Female Cadet Compound category, winning by a mere 17 points over the runner up.

"I'm pretty excited," Dean said. "I definitely didn't expect to do this well as opposed to at the [Winter] Games; I did pretty well there."

Dean, 15, hails from Kimberley and won a gold and silver medal in Vernon.

She was worried about her first day of shooting on Saturday, thinking she hadn't done very well, which motivated her to improve on Sunday.

"I picked it up a notch; I didn't shoot my best, but I did shoot better than yesterday [Saturday], so that was good," Dean said.

Both Black and Dean are aiming for a spot at the Canadian Outdoor Target Championships in Victoria this August, which will feature athletes from across the country.