McGuffey, Waynesburg, Trinity qualify for WPIAL rifle championships
The WPIAL high school rifle regular season concluded last week with three local teams qualifying for the team tournament.
McGuffey earned its spot by finishing unbeaten in Section 1 at 8-0. The Highlanders finished 11-1 overall.
Waynesburg, which just started its rifle program a couple of years ago, made the championships for the first time. The Raiders finished second in Section 1 with a 5-3 record and were 6-5 overall.
In Section 2, Trinity finished second behind unbeaten Woodland Hills at 6-2, 10-3.
The Hillers, who had a rare season last year when they missed qualifying for the WPIAL tournament, have come on strong of late, shooting a number of 800s down the stretch. The Hillers or Highlanders could be a dark horse to win the WPIAL if they can keep their x-count high.
The two favorites this season, however, are the Wolverines and Butler, both of which will take unbeaten records into the team tournament, which will take place Tuesday at the Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Sportsmen’s Club.
The individual tournament, which will take place Thursday at the same site, is guaranteed to have a new champion.
Trinity’s Kayla Huffman, who became the eighth Hillers shooter to win the WPIAL last season by besting the 78-shooter field, has graduated, as have second-and third-place finishers Sonny Breeger of Woodland Hills and Tyler Mincin of Hempfield.
But Woodland Hills returns top-10 placewinners Maria Brucker (4th), Becca DeVito (6th) and Mike Krivi (10th).
Locally, the top returnees include Avella’s Becca Spencer (11th), Trinity’s Mikayla DeMarino (12th) and Colin Page (13th) and McGuffey’s Kevin McCosby (18th).
• Visitors to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources web site will notice some changes that went live last week.
To keep up with the times, the DCNR wanted to make its site more easily accessible for mobile devices.
But that streamlining isn’t the only change.
The new DCNR site now includes better campsite descriptions, an upgraded map view, mobile reservation capabilities, availability notifications, a streamlined check out process and increased security.
Visitors to the DCNR web site (www.dcnr.state.pa.us) can search for available campsites, picnic pavilions and additional facilities on-line.
They can also make reservations immediately.
Callers to 1-888-PA-PARKS (888-727-2757) can still acquire park information or make reservations to any of the state’s 120 state parks, which include 6,200 campsites, 300 cabins, 91 camping and deluxe cottages and 34 yurts.
• Zac Szabo fired his second 300 of the season to help first-place Frazier-Simplex hold off Irwin Post 228, 1,479-1,463, in a Greater Pittsburgh and Suburban Rifle League match last week.
John Husk shot a 298, Jim Mounts 296, Sylvia Dreistadt 293 and Doug Wilcox 292 for Frazier (12-1).
Brandon Meier led Irwin (6-6) with a 296.
Despite competing without the league’s top shooter, Amy Smith, Dormont-Mt. Lebanon stayed within striking distance with a 1,476-1,468 win over Green Valley.
Dean Trew and Tom Gerner tied for top honors for DML with 297 each, while Dan Francis had a 295, Matt Piatt 294 and Miles Ford 293.
Cal Roberts led Green Valley (6-7) with a 296.
Outdoors Editor F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.