Saturday morning brought several area students to Washington School in Carmi, Illinois. Students from Carmi-White County, Grayville, and Norris City-Omaha Elementary were taking part in the annual Elks Hoop Shoot. Competition would get underway with shooters drawing in order to see which place they would shoot in for their respective age division. When it was a participants turn they would begin with five practice shots then proceed to shooting their first 10 baskets that would count toward their overall total. Upon completion of the first stanza, those shooting would sit and wait for their second round of the competition in which they would shoot 15 more free throws to tally with their first round total of the 25 total free throws shot.
Shooting first for the day would be the 8-9 year olds. This age group is not required to shoot free throws from the regulation free throw line but instead they are able to move closer to the goal. For the girls, NCO would have both Trinity Boyd and Kate Vollman taking part. Although neither would win the competition and earn the right to advance to the next level, Boyd would place 2nd followed by Vollman in 3rd place. The boys 8-9 year old division would find Max Riggs winning and earning the right to advance to the next level.
The 10-11 year old division would shoot next. This age division along with all other age divisions would have to shoot their free throws from the regulation line without stepping on or over the line in order for the made shot to count. No one from NCO would place first to move on to the next venue but Avery Black would claim 3rd place while Hannah Taylor would take 4th for the girls. For the boys, Zeke Baumgart would finish in 2nd place followed by Chris Williams in 4th.
The final group of the day would be the 12-13 year old age group. NCO would claim first place in this age group for the girls as Meghan Healy connected on 18 of the 25 free throws to win. The other NCO participant, Hallie Roper, would take 3rd place. The boys division would witness NCO participants, Nathaniel Wilson and Cord Tucker taking 3rd and 4th place respectively.
