Andrews – It has been another good year for the Andrews Shooting Teams.
Both the middle and high school teams will be competing in the Youth Hunter Skills Education State Tournament, which is sponsored by the N.C. Wildlife & Recreation Commission, on April 30. The state tournament will take place at the John Lentz Hunter Education Complex in Ellerbe.
“We’re really excited to go back again,” coach Brandon West said. “Our high school team finished second and got an automatic bid to go. Our middle school team was in the numeric draw system and had to wait two weeks to find out. We were really thrilled for them to get to go too.”
To qualify, both teams competed at the YHEST District 9 tournament, which runs from Cherokee County to Polk County, in Columbus. Andrews High School finished second, and the top two teams in each region qualify for the State Tournament.
Andrews Middle School did not finish in the top two, but qualified as one of the 10 highest-scoring teams that didn’t finish in the top two of their region. The high school team also won the senior division sportsmanship award, which is important to West.
“That means more to us than any other award that can be won,” he said. “Since I have been a part of it, for 10 years, one of our teams has won that award for us every single year.”
The team practices at the sheriff’s range in Marble, and West added that Derreck and Tina Queen, Jason Roland and Kenny Clark have also helped out during practices. The first goal is safety, then get in as many repetitions as possible.
The competition has four events: shotgun, rifle, archery and a written hunter skills exam. At regionals, Dalton Rose, Brayden Rowland and Jesse Hall all had perfect
scores in the shotgun. Rose and Rowland would place second and fifth among individuals at the competition. As a team, Andrews High finished in second place in hunter skills and shotgun and third in rifle and archery.
Besides competing, West is also looking forward to both team continuing to build camaraderie. They’ve traveled together to three tournaments this year, including regionals, and usually the day before the state tournament go to a clay pigeon course to have fun and relax before the competition.
“We’re thrilled that they get to go and experience it,” he said. “We always travel together. It kind of becomes one big family.”