The archery tournament, put on by the Missouri Department of Conservation, is scheduled for Saturday, March 24. (Photo courtesy of Google images)

WARRENSBURG, Mo.--As many as 1,500 young archers may participate in a tournament at UCM in March, and baseball tournaments could be coming here this summer.

The archery tournament, put on by the Missouri Department of Conservation, is scheduled for Saturday, March 24. It will have 1,000 to 1,500 students from grades 4 -12. The event outgrew its location last year in Cole Camp, Mo., and the MDC decided Warrensburg would be better suited to host. The tournament is expected to bring in 3,000-4,000 people to the city, and the winners will advance to Kentucky.

The tournament was discussed Tuesday by members of the Warrensburg Sports Tourism Task Force. It was a lightly attended event, with only four out of the eight listed on roll call appearing. The members also discussed a possible baseball tournament coming to Warrensburg fields in the spring and summer.

Task force member Lisa Dyer had high remarks for the archery event. “It sounds like a fun event and should be exciting for it to be here at the university,” Dyer said.

“I think this could be a huge opportunity for us,” task force president Jonathan Thruston said. “There are some small things that we could do to make this event worthwhile. It might be small now, but it could have an opportunity to grow in the future. We could provide a host at one of the hotels as an example."

The people at Triple Crown Baseball are looking for a new location for tournaments and Warrensburg is a leading candidate. Due to its good facilities, Warrensburg may be able to host two to three tournaments through the organization this season.

The main question right now is pricing. If Triple Crown Baseball decides the prices here are reasonable, Warrensburg will most likely see tournaments here when the warmer weather arrives. A supplemental concern for the company is available dates. The amount of tournaments will depend how many confluent dates the organization can find with the city of Warrensburg.

“I’m excited,” Thurston said. “I’m excited about just these two events. We worked so hard to get here. I don’t know if this is the direction they’re expecting, but we ought to take opportunities when they come. There’s mention that the baseball tournament is small, but as it grows, we grow. I think we need to take that initiative. If we don’t do that, then we never accomplish anything.”



A final piece of business at the meeting welcomed new city manager Paula Hertwig, formally at Columbia, Mo. With over 20 years’ experience as a city manager, Hertwig sees positive things from this task force already.



“I think that the two events coming to the community are outstanding,” Hertwig said. “That’s because there’s little to no expenditure from the city or the university, for that matter. And even if there was a cost, these are the kind of events that you want them to come back. They’re good for the community. I mean they’re good for the hotels, they’re good for the restaurants and they’re good for retail. It’s hard right now to get an exact return of investment right now, but we know these events will be great.”


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