For the first time since 1997, the Ware County High School riflery team won the Georgia state shooting championship at Fort Benning.
“They did well,” Maurice England, legendary Gators riflery coach, said. “I am pleased with every one of them.”
The Gators were led by senior Kimberlee Nettles, who finished as the state runner-up after shooting a 291 out of a possible 300 with 21 bulls-eyes. The four-year finalist then went through a multi-person shoot-off to determine the champion. Ware County junior Courtney Harris also shot a 291, while sophomore Ashton Newland shot a 290, freshman Tyler Hanson shot a 288, and freshman Ben Smith shot a 285 to give the Gators top four an 1160 score that put them ahead of second place and defending state champion East Coweta by 7 points. Nettles and Hanson were also named to the All-State team. Other individual shooters for Ware County included Bryce Young, who shot 285; Rayne Riggins, who shot 283; Tori Moseley, who shot 277; and Jonathan King, who shot 269.
To make it to the state championship, either the team has to be undefeated in region, sectional, and semi-final matches – which Ware County accomplished for the sixth consecutive season – or the individual must shoot a 290 or better during the regular season. Ware County had nine qualifiers go to state by shooting 290 or better during the season. Ware defeated Carver High School in sectionals and then beat Griffin in the semi-finals to advance to the state championship.
At the state championship, England and his assistant coaches had to pick five shooters to be scored as a team, but decided not to let the shooters know who they were until after the competition.
“As far as they knew, they were shooting as individuals, so they had to do the best that they could do,” England said.
In his 36 years of coaching riflery in Ware County, England led the Gators to the state finals at least 30 times. He has had 21 shooters receive college scholarships, including Nettles, who committed to North Georgia College. England considers this year’s team as one of the best groups of shooters he has ever had.
“They were able to start in the eighth grade, so they had a year’s more experience,” England said. “It made a lot of difference when these older shooters have been kind of sitting back and now we have new shooters that’s bumping their tails. They had to fight to keep their spot.”
He also added that the shooters practiced four days a week often as much as two-and-a-half hours per day.
The state championship competition is held annually at the Pool International Shooting Complex at Fort Benning outside of Columbus, Georgia. Riflery teams are grouped into a single category that includes teams from all seven classifications from A to AAAAAAA. The Gators shooters faced 16 teams including Buford, Columbus, Benedictine, Brunswick, Allatoona, Lampkin County, Monroe Area, Lee County, North Cobb, Upson-Lee, Tift County, St. Vincents, Carrollton, Cherokee County, Northside-Columbus, and East Coweta.
England thanked the Ware County Board of Education, Athletic Department, and especially the parents for their support.
SE-SF-0517-Ware Shooters
By Rob Asbell
Ware Shooters Win State
