CLAY TARGET SHOOTING

Gippsland School Clay Target Championships

On Wednesday 24th July, 12 members of the Lilydale High School shooting team attended a new event held at the Morwell Clay Target Club. This is to become an annual event and is an excellent opportunity for students to compete against the schools that will be attending the Frankston competition in August.

The Frankston event is the elimination event for the State Championships that will be held later in the year, at Echuca. 

The Morwell competition was a 20 shot event held over 2 rounds.  A total of 73 students from 12 different schools attended the event.  All of our students performed very well and their scores were some of the highest on the day, from those that attended on the day.

Dylan Naylor was the highest scorer on the day with an impressive 19/20 and was a little unlucky not to have a perfect score. This resulted in Dylan being presented with the ribbon and trophy for Overall winner on the day. 

Riley Huges-Gage was second in Senior Boys with a score of 25/30, after a 10 shot shoot off to decide on final places. 

Another impressive effort was that of Chloe Huges–Gage, who won Junior Girls, against an accomplished field of female shooters.

Jack Van Helman won the Junior Boys event with an impressive 18/25 after another shoot of to decide the order of places. 

Our team of Riley Huges-Gage, Lachlan Devine, Nathan Rogers, Dylan Naylor and Taj Durrant won the teams event with an impressive 79/100 and were presented with a shield that they will be eager to defend in next year’s event. 

All of our students are to be congratulated on their fine performances and display of sportsmanship. We in fact were awarded first or second place in each of the events that we entered on the day. 

Dylan, at the awards presentation, made a well-received speech thanking the organisers, other competitors and teachers that made the day, the great event that it was.

Frankston School Shoot

On Tuesday 6th August, 10 of our Clay Target students, 2 staff members and several parents attended Frankston Clay Target Club for the annual South Eastern Zone qualification competition. 

Successful students on the day qualify for the State Championships that are held later in the year at Echuca.  The competition has a proud history and has ran for many years, having started back in the 1960s.  Several of our Olympic representatives have progressed from competing, and on most occasions winning at this very competition.

The students were fine ambassadors for our school and all should be proud of their individual results on the day.  Sadly, as is the nature of competitions, not everyone can win. Although, several students came very close to taking a prize and were in a final shoot off between competitors on equal scores, Dylan Naylor and Chloe Hughes-Gage ultimately qualified for the State Championships to be held in September.  

Our team came a very credible 4th on the day.  We have one more final competition for the year that all students are eligible to represent the school at.  This is later in the year at Benalla.  We are confident that a few of our representatives will be on the podium at this event.

There was a total of 107 students from 16 different schools, in our region, that attended the event.

Below are pictures of Chloe Hughes–Gage receiving her third place in Junior Girls and Dylan Naylor his third place in Senior Boys.  We wish them both all the best at the State Championships on September 2.

Garry Bennett