YANKTON, S.D. (AP) - A South Dakota archery center is planning a large expansion with an eye toward potentially hosting the Olympic trials.
The National Field Archery Association had an opportunity to present to the Yankton City Commission last week its vision to expand the Easton Yankton Archery Complex. The added space would allow for larger archery tournaments, more convention space and areas for hunter safety courses, the Yankton Press & Dakotan (https://bit.ly/2odaL2m ) reported.
The association received approval Monday for $400,000 in aid from the Business Improvement District.
Association president Bruce Cull said the expansion will still revolve largely around archery.
“The paramount importance that we have right now is room for archery and for big tournaments,” Cull said. “Eleven months from now, we have the World Indoor Championship coming here … so you can imagine we have some needs. It’s going to solve several problems.”
He said the facility has long wanted an opportunity to host more than one discipline at a time for Olympic tryouts. Along with archery and air rifle, Cull said there’s also potential for Olympic BMX tryouts.
“We’ve actually held off on doing the archery because my goal was to prove to the United States Olympic Committee what we could do here,” he said. “In (2015), we did that. … I’ve purposefully held them off because I want to do three sports at once or two at once because it’s a very expensive thing, it’s very political and if we have our ducks in a row … it’s going to be much easier.”
The expansion is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
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Information from: Yankton Press and Dakotan, https://www.yankton.net/
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