By Myra Bean

The South Panola AFJROTC Rifle team finished the year ranked No. 5 in the nation.

South Panola was able to take two teams of five to the national championship in Camp Perry, Ohio.

They were only one of three teams of the 43 teams who had two teams competing. The last two years South Panola was only allowed five shooters in national competition and and having 10 was quite unusual according to coach Ret. Col. Robert Mims.

Kayla Walker was the third highest scorer in the event. Raven Hudson shot a perfect score of 100 from the prone position the second day of competition.

“Kayla is an exceptional shooter and this is only her second year of shooting,” Mims said. Walker is one of the graduating seniors and will be enlisting in the Marine Corps. She has a fall ship date.

The best part of this competition to Mims was that everyone on the team shot really well.

“Our top five shooters are pretty much super stars,” Mims said. On the second day, the team shot 2,180 which is within a few points of national records, according to Mims. Most of the finished with their best match of the year. “After 11 months of competition, that is hard,” he said.

Gold medallion shooter Nick Rudd was also one of the top shooters. “Nick and Kayla shot the lights out,” Mims said.

Rudd will be going into the service though he has not decided which branch at this time.

Other graduates are Cam Cosby, Brian Hardy and Jason Robertson. Cosby will attend Northwest. Hardy is also going into the Marine Corps and Robertson will enlist, but has not decided which branch of service.

This year the rifle team has four other championships to their cache: Mississippi High School, Air Force, Mississippi Jr. Olympic Champion and Mississippi CMP Champions. They placed ninth in All-Service ROTC competition.

Other team members include Logan McCool, Kelsey Isbell, Shaniya Poole and Thomas Harkins.

Cutlines:

South Panola High School rifle team members include (front, from left) Raven Hudson, Cam Cosby, Brian Hardy, Logan McCool, (back) Jason Robertson, Kelsey Isbell, Nick Rudd, Kayla Wlaker, Shaniya Poole and Thomas Harkins. (Contributed)

SP rifle team member Kayla Walker placed third in the nation at the national competition in Camp Perry, Ohio.