Feb 10, 2015 3 min read

CANONSBURG – Heading into the WPIAL Team Rifle Tournament, head coaches Howard Ashbrook of McGuffey and John Husk of Trinity knew it would take a very good score to knock off Section 2 champion Woodland Hills to win the title.

And their respective teams were ready to put up a top-notch score.

The Highlanders and Hillers did just that, with each shooting 800s to match Woodland Hills Tuesday at the Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Sportsmen’s Club. It wasn’t enough, however, to knock off the Wolverines, who edged McGuffey and Trinity on X-count, winning the WPIAL championship for the second time in three years with a score of 800-69X.

“We shot our best score of the year,” said Husk, whose team finished second with an 800-64X. “So we can’t complain about that. They shot an 800-69X, which is a pretty good X count. My kids shot their best score, so I can’t ask for anything better. We’re just not a 10-X team. There were only four 10-Xs shot today and we had one of them, but we’re just not a big X-count team.”

That was the same fear Ashbrook had going into the tournament. The Highlanders, who were Section 1 champions, fired some 800s over the final month of the season. But matching Woodland Hills’ depth and consistency was going to be an issue.

“I was afraid of that,” said Ashbrook, whose team shot an 800-56X to finish third. “The kids competed and we got better every step of the way.”

Seamus McGuigan led the way for the Wolverines with a 100-10X, while Sarah Rodocker, Jaida Mosley, Jake Kimko and Michael Krivi all shot 100-9X. Woodland Hills had just one of its top-10 shooters drop a point. Only the top eight shooters count toward a team’s score.

The Hillers were nearly as good as Mikayla DeMarino also shot 100-10X, Trinity also got 100-9X from Ashley Hobgood, 100-8Xs from Chris Lemons, Collin Page and Sarah Hritz and 100-7Xs from Luke Oswald, Jessica Baker and Derek Till. The Hillers dropped just two points among their top-10 shooters.

McGuffey also dropped just two points and got a 100-9X from Kevin McCosby, 100-8Xs from Lindsey Mull, David North and Madison Ryburn and 100-7Xs from Jacqueline Foran and Alex Klagas.

Section 3 runner-up Hempfield finished fourth with a 799-58X, while Section 3 champion Butler – led by 100-10Xs from Zane Barnett and Bryant Liebler – was fifth at 797-68X.

Waynesburg, which is in just its third season of WPIAL competition, earned its first trip to the WPIAL team tournament and finished sixth with a 795-53X. The Raiders were led by Reagan Rush’s 100-8X and also got 100-7Xs from Cameron McIe and Emilee Tuttle.

Approximately 90 shooters will compete in the WPIAL Individual Championships Thursday at the Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Sportsmen’s Club. … By finishing in the top three, Trinity and McGuffey advance to next week’s State Shoot. The WPIAL teams will compete their portion of the tournament at the Frazier-Simplex Rifle Club.