GHSA Riflery Championships: Ware County earns fifth team title

The GHSA Riflery State Championship took over the Shooting Education Sports Education Center at Georgia Southern University this weekend and Ware County earned its fifth all-time state title with a cumulative 1157 team score. Ware County and North Gwinnett narrowly lost in the semifinals to Georgia Military and East Coweta, respectively, but both advanced as the two highest scoring losing teams from the semifinals to round out a 17-team championship field. Ware County scored a 1157-63 in the semifinals to Georgia Military’s 1157-64 and Woodward Academy (1158) was the only school that had a higher score.

Ware County won three-straight championships from 2017-19, but its streak was snapped in 2021 with Georgia Military College taking the crown. The Gators’ 1157 outclassed second-place Camden County’s 1150 and was shy of the state-record 1169 the program tallied during their run to the 2018 state title. East Coweta earned third-place with a 1149 team score and Upson Lee followed with a 1148 to finish fourth.

Each five-person team counted the top four scores for the team scores and the athletes that fired the highest eight scores qualified for the individual finals. This year’s individual state title went to Northside-Columbus’ Jacob Day, who posted a 393. Elysa Walter earned runner-up with a 392.2 mark and Ware County’s Cole Howard finished third-place with a 391.5.