On April 1st, the CHS Rifle Team traveled to Dahlonega, Georgia for the State Championship. Out of the seventeen competing teams, CHS took fifth place. This was a historic win for the Rifle Team, because CHS has not placed top five at the Rifle State Championship in twenty five years.
The six shooters selected to participate in the competition were: Shruthi Sankar (12), Marissa Childs (12), Cade Tramel (11), Irene Cheon (11), Isabella Valentine (11), and Autumn Smith (9).
For the State Championship competition, the seventeen teams were divided into four relays. The first nine teams, including CHS, participated in the first and second relay. The remaining eight teams competed in the third and fourth relay.
In a relay, shooters are asked to shoot from three different positions: prone, standing, and kneeling. One relay is an hour and ten minutes long, so the CHS Rifle Team shot for two hours and twenty minutes.
Once the relays are complete, the judges add up the individual scores of the shooters. The lowest score of each team is then dropped. The total number of points remaining is the team score.
This year, the CHS Rifle Team earned a team score of 1150 points. Because the maximum number of points possible for this competition was 1200, the CHS Rifle Team’s score of 1150 was close to perfection.
Sergeant Major Tuggle, the rifle team coach, reflects, “I am very pleased with the success we had, because we have never [received this score] before.”
The Rifle State Competition, as previously mentioned, featured seventeen teams. These teams came from a variety of Georgia districts, and many of the schools were larger than CHS.
Noticeably, schools that defeated CHS in the regular season, such as Upson-Lee and Chattahoochee, lost to the Blue Devils during this competition by several points.
This sweet victory is a marker of accomplishment for Sergeant Major Tuggle.
“Next year we are looking to go further, and I think we have the talent to do so. We are going to surprise a lot of people next year!” he declared.
The CHS Rifle Team’s record-setting performance at the State Championship serves as a positive sign for seasons to come.