Stephens County Rifle Team Garners Individual & Team wins at Local Match

The Georgia Mountain Shooting Association recently opened their range to the Georgia 4-H S.A.F.E. program to allow the Stephens County 4-H Rifle Team to host the 3rd Annual Stephens County Invitational Rimfire Sporter Match. 

Twenty eight shooters from Stephens, Jackson, Harris, Pulaski and Wilcox counties met at the range on Saturday, April 13 to compete in this match in preparation for the Georgia State 4-H Rimfire Sporter Match at Rock Eagle on May 4. 

Shooters compete by shooting 20 rounds in three positions. Required positions are Prone at 50 yard and Standing at 25 yards. The shooter can choose between the Sitting or Kneeling position at 50 yards for their third position. Each shooter’s skill and accuracy are tested by shooting both precision and rapid fire stages in all three positions. A perfect score for a match is 600 points.

Shooters compete against each other in groups using various criteria. Shooters are first divided by age, with 7th and 8th grade shooters shooting in the Junior Division and 9th through 12th grade shooters in the Senior Division. Each Division has shooters shooting rifles with Open sights or Telescopic sights. A shooter can choose to shoot both an Open sight rifle and Telescopic sight rifle. 

This past Saturday, 10 shooters opted to shoot both Classes, equaling a total of 38 guns for the Invitational Match. Each shooter competes for an Individual score and four shooters from each county are selected to shoot a Team score.

Stephens County Junior Team, which included Haley Zigan, Lizzie Lane, MaKalya Westmoreland and MaKenzie Westmoreland, won First Place honors this year. The Stephens County Senior Team, which included Bethany Byrd, Kylar Weaver, JJ Ginn and Hayden Hosper, also placed First.

Individual winners in Senior Division were 1st Place winner Judson Terry of Wilcox County with 587 points; 2nd Place winner Abigail Collins of Jackson County with 585 points and 3rd Place winner Bethany Byrd of Stephens County with 577 points. 

Individual winners in Junior Division were 1st Place winner Haley Zigan of Stephens County with 561 points; 2nd Place winner Lizzie Lane of Stephens County with 558 points and 3rd Place winner Mckayla Westmoreland of Stephens County with 521 points.