The Haughton High School AFJROTC Air Rifle Team extended its season well into the summer, zeroing in on their target and reaching new heights at the national level.
The team traveled in June to Nebraska with 32 other 4-H Shooting Sports competitors to represent Louisiana in the National Championships. Three members of Haughton’s team: cadets Layla Briggs, Erin Rigsby and Chris Fick III, competed over a three-day period with outstanding results.
As a team they came out on top, earning 3rd place in the 3-position match, 4th place in standing only, and 2nd place in silhouettes. This culminated in winning 2nd place Air Rifle Team, otherwise known as the 4-H Air Rifle National Champions Runner-up. In addition, the Air Rifle teams contributed to Louisiana earning the Overall 4-H Shooting Sports Championship, the fifth time in six years.
Fast forward to mid-July and Haughton Marksmen attended Civilian Marksmanship Air Rifle Camp in Anniston, Alabama, where they fine tuned their targeting skills. Those five days concluded with an Air Rifle Sporter 3x20 match and competitive finals, where Fick earned 1st place and Rigsby finished in 5th.
At the end of the summer, Briggs, along with 13 of the top high school air rifle sporter competitors in the nation, met at Hillsdale College in Michigan to compete in the American Legion National Championship, the most grueling Air Rifle competition held in the U.S. each year. Briggs had two personal bests with her highest score in the four 3x20 matches over two days, reaching a 547 out of 600. She made it to the finals, which was a 10-shot cumulative final of the two days’ scores, plus 10 shots. Briggs’ score in the final was the fourth highest of the 10 shots. However, all competitors’ cumulative scores allowed them to retain their position.
The final outcome for the Haughton team commander and top marksman in the 10-year team’s history: Briggs arrived in Hillsdale, MI on day one in 14th and finished in 6th place overall. It was an exciting and fun event, considering four matches and the final were jammed into two short days. She represented Haughton High, American Legion Post 388, Louisiana, and Air Force JROTC extremely well in her final high school air rifle competition.
It was a record season for HHS, which sited in many victories: runner-up to State Champions; ranked number one in Air Force JROTC nationally; finishing 5th overall; and Briggs, the Air Force Sporter National Champion Runner-up. The question is will the team ascend to even greater heights? Only time, practice and competition will tell.