Hempfield takes 3rd in state rifle championships

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, March 10, 2021 | 9:31 PM

WPIAL team rifle champion Hempfield placed third overall at Wednesday’s Pennsylvania State Scholastic Smallbore Rifle Championships.

The Spartans, led by Abby Bowin, Lydia Dunn, Rylee Loucks, Paige Roberts and Clair Martz, finished with a team score of 1,011.5.

District 11’s Southern Lehigh claimed the state title with a five-shooter score of 1,020.2, while District 5’s Everett placed second (1,018.2).

Bethel Park, which placed fourth at WPIALs, was the second-highest finishing WPIAL team. The Black Hawks took fifth out of the 11 competing teams.

WPIAL third-place Waynesburg finished seventh, and WPIAL runner-up Trinity was eighth.

Up to 10 members of each team shot at a pair of USA-50 Orion targets.

Griffin Lake from Emmaus in District 11 took home the individual state title after scoring a 413.6 over four targets. He led the top five shooters who were named to the PA State All-Tournament Team.

The lone WPIAL shooter in that group of five was Avella’s Alayna Walther, who finished a close second with 410.5 points over her four targets.

Walther placed fourth at the WPIAL individual championships.

A total of 41 shooters competed in the individual state competition. WPIAL champion Travis Zeis from Bethel Park took 18th.

Other WPIAL shooters placing in the top 10 were Dunn (sixth) and Loucks (seventh) from Hempfield, Dwight Logsdon from McGuffey (eighth) and Taylor Burnfield from Waynesburg Central (ninth).

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Hempfield