Two of Ethel's three-man skeet shooting teams qualified for the state tournament but could not participate because it conflicted with the 1A baseball playoffs. The six shooters are all members of the baseball team that has reached the third round of the playoffs.
Cyrus Rone, Hayden Langford, and Tyler Weaver made up the B squad which was 29th in the state with a qualifying score of 466. They combined to hit 466 of 600 targets. The A squad – Hayden Graves, Hunter Hutchinson and Colby Allen – was 33rd with a 464 score.
The top 50 teams qualified for the state tournament.
Rone was the Tigers' top shooter, hitting 166 of 200 clays. Langford and Graves were next with 161 each, followed by Allen 152, Hutchinson 151 and Weaver 139.
Jeff Langford, an assistant coach, said, “The kids enjoy it. It's a great outdoor activity.”
This is the second year for the team.
“They had a great first year. Learned a lot,” Langford said. “This year, they took what they learned and did much, much better.”
Skeet shooting, like archery, is a coed sport. There are girls on the Ethel team, although the two squads that qualified were made up of all boys.
Skeet is under the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks. It is not an MHSAA activity.
