Columbus – The Black Knights barely missed the mark on qualifying for a state-competition appearance.
Robbinsville has been waiting for weeks on confirmation about whether the shooting team will have a spot at Saturday's championship meet in Ellerbe and received word during Spring Break that the Knights were just outside the range, even after scoring 3,442 team points at March 16's District 9 tournament in Columbus.
Their ninth-place finish included second-place recognition in hunter skills, where the Black Knights evenly divided 708 points between the written test and the field exam. Elsewhere in team competition, Robbinsville was 10th in rifle (893 team points), 11th in archery (921) and 12th in shotgun (920).
Senior Ryan Lynn led the Knights individually, placing third overall with a combined effort of 752 points. Each shooter's scores at district were as follows:
* Archery: Ryan Lynn, 199; Avery Brown, 194; Gabby Hernandez, 181; Colton Galloway, 180; Myley Hyde, 167.
* Hunter Skills: Lynn, 172; Brown, 148; Mason Satterfield, 140; Wade Franado, 126; Hyde, 122.
* Rifle: Lynn, 191; Galloway, 181; Murphy Shanahan, 178; Brown, 173; Hyde, 170.
* Shotgun: Shanahan, 200; Galloway, 190; Lynn, 190; Hyde, 190; Brown, 150.
Middle school
The next convoy of Black Knights placed 12th at the district competition, recording a collective 2,560 points.
Robbinsville Middle finished eighth in both hunter skills (546) and shotgun (770), as well as 13th in both archery (618) and rifle (626).
The top individual competitor for the Knights was Jace Garrison, who compiled 615 points to finish 16th. Individual scores were as follows:
* Archery: Garrison, 179; Abel Britton, 148; Anthony Smith, 126; Gage Stewart, 104; Haylen Lovelace, 61.
* Hunter Skills: Britton, 142; Lovelace, 120; Smith, 106; Garrison, 102; Stewart, 76.
* Rifle: Garrison, 154; Smith, 135; Lovelace, 132; Britton, 108; Stewart, 97.
* Shotgun: Britton, 200; Garrison, 180; Stewart, 160; Smith, 160; Lovelace, 70.