-
LCHS rifle team member Liv Lusky looks down her sights during the prone position portion of competition versus North Gwinnett last week.
The LCHS rifle team fell just short of pulling out a big upset in its 2019-2020 season opener when the Indians took to the new facilities at the Indian Hunting Grounds Rifle Range to take aim at defending Area Champions North Gwinnett on Thursday, Nov. 14.
LCHS head rifle coach Ron Fugate and his shooters were as excited about the new facilities as they were about beginning a new season before the event started.
“It’s an amazing range,” said LCHS rifle team captain Colby Craddock. “It’s a big upgrade from last year and it’s so much nicer to shoot here.”
The Indian Hunting Grounds Rifle Range boasts 15 lanes, electronic scoring and is set up so that anyone who goes to the LCHS rifle website will be able to watch competitions in realtime.
On top of the team’s excitement about the new range, the Indians were also excited to be beginning the season with a tough challenge against last season’s Area Champions.
“It will be a good test for them today,” said Fugate. “North Gwinnett has some good shooters, but we’ve been shooting well leading up to today. We’ve already scored over 1,100 in practice, so I think we’ll put up some good scores.”
The Indians would hit the 1,100 mark during their competition with North Gwinnett, but fell to NGHS by a final score of 1,140-1,100.
Craddock supplied a superb performance for the Indians versus North Gwinnett, earning the team’s Top Gun honors for the event with a solid score of 282.
Following right behind Craddock was one of Lumpkin County’s young guns Liv Lusky. Lusky earned the second highest score for the Indians by shooting a 274 at the competition.
Justice Turner shot a 273, Ansley Gilstrap shot a 271 and Levi Caldwell shot a 270 to round out the top five shooters for Lumpkin.
However, a State qualifying performance by North Gwinnett’s Matthew Harrington, who shot 292 during the match, allowed NGHS to eke by the Indians by 40 points.
The loss dropped the LCHS rifle team to 0-1 to start the 2019-2020 season, but Fugate is confident that, given the team’s veteran and young talent, that the Indians should be a force to be reckoned with this season.
The LCHS rifle team will get an opportunity to earn its first win of the season when they host Parkview at the Indian Hunting Grounds Rifle Range tomorrow, Nov. 21. Competition is set to begin at 4:30 p.m.