Quintet of shooters to represent Plum at WPIAL rifle championships

Five members of the Plum varsity rifle team will test their shooting acumen at Thursday's WPIAL individual championships at the Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Sportsman's Club.

After a regular-season full of section matches, junior Sheldon Belgrave; seniors Alyssa Doyle, Victoria Michaels and Jim Pattock; and sophomore Shawn Starr were selected to represent Plum at the championships.

“They all have been doing well in practice, and like the section matches, it's about carrying it over to WPIALs,” head coach Dan Parsons said.

Unlike in the section matches, where each shooter fires 10 shots at the target for up to a maximum 100-10x score, there will be two targets and 20 shots from each competitor.

After a shooter has completed the first target, he or she will move over to the next target, adjust the sights on the rifle and resume firing.

“It's probably going to take a 200-20x to win the WPIAL title,” Parsons said.

“A lot can shoot 100-10x, and they've shown it this year.”

In last week's section finale against Hempfield, all 10 Spartans shooters shot 100s with two completing a perfect score with 10 bull's-eyes.

Belgrave, Michaels and Pattock have experience at WPIALs from competing at the event last year.

Pattock came close to qualifying for the PIAA championship shoot as he finished 19th overall.

Michaels took 24th, while Belgrave was 52nd out of 80.

“We have a good shot at getting someone to states this year,” Parsons said.

Each of the 15 WPIAL-sanctioned schools will have up to five shooters compete at the individual championships.

Penn-Trafford, in its first full season as an official WPIAL member, will have a full five in competition for the second straight year.

Also, WPIAL-member schools who do no sponsor rifle as a team can be represented by no more than one competitor.

Last year, Jack Graw was the lone representative from Franklin Regional, and he placed 10th and advanced to states.

“We started working with two targets in practice Friday to get them ready,” Parsons said. “We also used two targets at different times throughout the season to mix things up.”

The WPIAL will award medals for first through 10th place: gold for first, silver for second and bronze for third through 10th. The coaches association will award bronze medals for 11 through 15th place.

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-388-5825 or at mlove@tribweb.com.