Lafayette, Ridgeland shoot their way into GHSA semis

The Lafayette and Ridgeland High School rifle teams are both just one victory away from advancing to the GHSA state finals.

Last Tuesday at Carrollton High, the Ramblers punched their ticket to the semifinals with a 1107-1078 win over the Trojans, the Area 7 runner-up.

Austin Jenkins had a score of 282 out of 300, followed closely behind by Shelby Hudson (281) and Elijah Webb (280), while Kevin Barfield finished out with a 264 to complete the team score.

Lafayette will travel to face Area 3 champion Camden County in the semifinals.

Ridgeland moved on with a comfortable 1130-1071 win over visiting Douglas County this past

Thursday. The Panthers fell one point shy of tying their all-time highest score.

Up by just seven points after the first round of shooting (prone position), Ridgeland took the always-difficult standing round by 34 points before winning the third and final round (kneeling) by 18.

Ashlynn Hill posted rounds of 94, 95 and 96 to lead the Blackand-white with a 285. First-year shooter Summer Bearden had one of her best days of the season with a 284 (95, 93, 96), followed by Madeline Moore at 281 (98, 88, 95) and Ryson Haag at 280 (97, 89, 94). Elizabeth Quarles also shot for the Panthers and finished with a 268 (94, 85, 89).

Ridgeland’s top four scorers were in the top five overall on Thursday and all five of their scorers placed in the top seven. Douglas

County’s top shooter, Jin Wang, shot a 280 (95, 87, 98).

Up next for Ridgeland will be a match against either Midtown or heavily-favored Lumpkin County, the champions of Area 6. Lumpkin County was a state finalist a year ago and won the state title in 2012.

The winner of the MidtownLumpkin County match was unknown as of press time.