About two weeks ago, the Rocky Mount Academy Eagle’s Fire shooting team participated at the Sporting Clays State Championship. The competition consisted of several rounds of the team testing their accuracy and the group placed impressively well in all of the divisions. Their coaches, Mr. Pruden and Mr. Gay, have led them through long practices and during competition weekend, their hard work paid off.

In the Intermediate/Advanced level, RMA’s group of competitors consisted of 7^th graders Ramey Gardner, Jack Pittman, and Colby Silverthorne. This group successfully secured first place in their competition with a combined score of 206. Next in the Intermediate/Entry level competition, 8^th graders Emma Stone and Vivian Rogers competed alongside 7^th grader Madie Jenkins in a group. The team ended up placing first in their division with a total score of 158. In the Open Squad round, after shooting a combined score of 210, 8^th grader Owen Rommel, 9^th grader Jack Wu, and 10^th grader Joe Cockrell. In the Senior/ JV division, 12^th grader Isabel Rommel, 9^th graders Caroline Gay and Spencer Gardner competed and placed first with a score of 237.

In the individual rounds, RMA’s success remained consistent. In the Female Intermediate/Entry division, 8^th graders Vivian Rogers and Emma Stone placed first and second respectively. In the Male Intermediate/ Entry division, 7^th grader Austin Overton placed 5^th out of 11 competitors. In the Male Intermediate/ Advanced division competition, Ramey Gardner performed especially well and hit 82 out of 100 clays earning him a first place spot. Colby Silverthorne, of 7^th grade, placed third in the same division. In the Female Senior/JV division, Isabel placed first overall with a score of 76 and Caroline Gay placed third with a score of 68. Next, in the Male Senior/JV division, 9^th grader Spencer Gardner hit an outstanding 93 out of 100 clays ranking him first out of 11 other competitors. Another 9^th grader, Jack Wu, placed seventh with a successful score of 70. Finally in the Male Senior/Varsity division, 10^th grader Joe Cockrell placed 8^th against strong competition with a score of 73 out of 100.

All in all, the competition was a perfect way for RMA’s team to showcase what they’ve worked so hard to achieve. With several first place wins, it will be exciting to see where this fairly young team goes in the years to come; the sky is the limit, quite literally. Congrats to all of the competitors on a job well done!