Waynesburg rifle team on target
For a sport that doesn’t get much attention, the Waynesburg Central rifle team has a lot of fun.
In one of the few co-ed high school sports, the main point is to hit the target. Ten students from each team shoot for varsity, and eight scores are counted.
Each firer shoots a .22-caliber rifle at a paper target 50 feet away. Each paper target has 10 targets on it. The firers have 15 minutes to shoot one time at each of the ten targets.
The individual targets each have a series of rings to score the shot. If the shot at the target hits the center ring without hitting the next ring out, it is considered an “X.” A perfect score for the target is a 100 (10x). The eight scores for each team are then added up, and the team with the highest score wins.
Emily Ozohonish, a sophomore at Jefferson-Morgan that shoots on the Waynesburg Central team, came the closest to a perfect score with a 100 (8x) on Thursday, when Waynesburg Central hosted McGuffey at Waynesburg Sportsman’s Club in the second match of the season.
Waynesburg Central lost to McGuffey by “X”es. McGuffey finished the match 792 (50x), while Waynesburg had 792 (43x).
Ozohonish and fellow Waynesburg teammate and Jefferson-Morgan classmate Camryn Dugan both started shooting competitively for the first time last year, when the team was formed.
“We like to hunt and we both shoot sporting clays,” Ozohonish said. “We’ve both been shooting since we were little.”
“Not competitively, though,” Dugan added.
Both girls went hunting on Monday for the first day of rifle season and Dugan got a 7-point.
“They (the team) shot very well,” Waynesburg Central’s head coach Jeanette Phillips said. “We had our first match on Tuesday against Plum, and we shot a 785 and we’ve improved almost 10 points since then, so that’s really good.
“I get a lot of help from Rich Rush. He’s a volunteer from Jefferson-Morgan. It’s really nice to have someone from from JM to help out.”
Ozohonish led the Raiders, shooting a 100 (8x). Teammate Austin Kiger was right behind her with a 100 (7x). Tim Heldreth shot 100 (4x), Mason Long shot 99 (7x), Todd Nelson shot 99 (6x) and Camryn Dugan shot 99 (5x).
Courtney Stiles led McGuffey with a 100 (8x). Teammates Jacob Kamey and Zach Nicolella each shot a 100 (6x).
Waynesburg Central will travel to Washington High School on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.