PORTERSVILLE — Mark Haller may have become the face of the Portersville Christian School archery program.

And there are plenty of faces to choose from.

Haller had the best score among 800 sixth-graders at last year's high school nationals in Louisville, Ky. He recently placed first among all middle school boys at the state meet this year, earning a $1,000 scholarship in the process.

He shot a 287 out of a possible score of 300.

But he's not alone in terms of an archer realizing success wearing a PCS uniform.

“Everyone has gotten so much better,” said Haller, who was been with the program through all four years of its existence. “It seems like there's three times as many kids here as there were before.”

There were 30 students on the team during its debut season in 2014. Last year, there were 34.

This season, there are 54, including the Warriors' first high school team. The program previously consisted of elementary and middle school teams.

Last year, PCS qualified for the national tournament and world competition for the first time.

“I think this is a case of success inviting more success,” PCS head archery coach Erica DeLattre said. “A lot of kids in school saw how well the team did last year and they want to be a part of it.”

Portersville Christian has approximately 200 students in Grades 3-12 — the grades eligible for archery — meaning that more than one of every four PCS students in those grades is on the team.

“We take anyone on our team who wants to try it,” assistant coach Ronee Haller said. “At these big tournaments, we're up against public school programs that make cuts and still have 24 high school archers.

“Our high school team has 12. At states, the best 12 scores out of 24 count toward qualifying a team for nationals. All 12 of our high school kids had to shoot well for us to get there and they did that.”

PCS qualified its high school, middle school and elementary teams for nationals, which begin May 11 in Louisville.

Comprising the Warriors' high school roster are seniors Zoey McDaniel, Hope Merrill, Austin Patterson, Tyler Drake, Cassie Haller and Colton Walker, junior Seth Van Gent, sophomores Cole Wilson, Marissa Slupe and Joshua Marshall, freshmen Josiah Van Gent and Julia Schaming.

The PCS archery team has a set of triplets — Zachary, Jacob and Taylor Walker — and two archers who placed second in the state in their respective divisions. Fifth-grader Cambrie Kuzar was second among elementary girls and eighth-grader Olivia Musguire was second among middle school girls.

Haller and Kuzar are from Butler. Musguire is from New Castle.

“I didn't like it until my second year,” Haller said of archery. “My sister (Cassie) was on the team, so I got dragged to practice all the time. I was here anyway, I figured I may as well try it.

“By my second year, we were finishing second in states ... The winning was cool.”

Musguire is in her first year at PCS. She competed for New Castle Christian in grades 4-7.

“I was the only one left in my class there. All of my friends left, so I figured it was time to change schools,” Musguire said. “I love everyone on this team.

“Everyone has been very helpful to me, very encouraging. I can see why the team has been doing so well. It's like a big family.”

Musguire hit 283 of 300 targets in finishing second.

Chad Kozar, Cambrie's father, said his daughter practices four times a week at Shooter's Showcase in Slippery Rock in addition to the regular school practices, which are twice or three times a week.

“She got into it by watching shooters on TV and in movies,” Kozar said of Cambrie. “She's always wanted to do it.

“She's in her second year with the team. Once she learned how to table her emotions and maintain concentration, she really broke through in the sport.”

The same can be said of many PCS archers.

“These kids are dedicated,” volunteer assistant coach Rob Reott said. “They started winning trophies and interest in the program spiked way up.

“Archery is a great sport because you learn how to shoot as an individual while being part of a team. It's an individual team sport.”

There are 14,993 archers currently registered for nationals. There can be as many as 1,000 lined up shooting at their targets at one time.

“It can be pretty stressful,” Mark Haller admitted.

Stressful, but not intimidating.

“We see big teams walk in there in full uniform, archery bags matching those uniforms ... Our only uniform is our shirts,” Ronee Haller said.

“I think our kids enjoy being the underdog. They're not intimidated at all. They know what they can do.”