By Staff
Special to the Advance
The Escambia County High School NJROTC Marksmanship Team participated in the Dufner Memorial marksmanship contest Saturday. Held at and hosted by the Pensacola Rifle and Pistol Club. This match pits the best marksman from seven area high schools against each other in standard three-position air rifle competition. About 40 individual cadets vied for medals in several categories.
This was the first marksmanship match, away from Atmore, that the ECHS NJROTC has gone to since the 2002-03 school year. This last school year has seen the NJROTC rebuild several competition teams under the tutelage of Senior Naval Science Instructor John Sweeting. Re-building the marksmanship team has been a goal for this school year which has been realized. After completing work on a new practice range in January and hosting a regional match for NJROTC units over a five-state area, ECHS cadets settled in to practice their shooting skills.
It came together Saturday when Matt Boatwright and Lillian Dennis took the first- and third-place medals, respectively, in the Standing (Off-Hand) position. Their next challenge will be shooting sports at the Alabama Sports Festival, to be held in Birmingham June 29-July 1.