ERA Shooting squad named MSSP Shooting Champions

  By Susie A. Wolfe The East Rankin Academy (ERA) Shooting Squad were named State Champions and ERA eight Brayden Warner was the overall combined winner at the fifth annual Mississippi Scholastic Shooting Program (MSSP) State Championships held June 25 and 26 at the McIvor Shooting Facility in Sardis, Mississippi. The 24-member ERA squad, under the direction of coaches Doc Nettles and Vince Bynum, had a score of 560 out of 600 and won by a 0-point margin. They finished third overall in skeet, third overall in sporting clays and third overall combined champions and overall State Champions for 2020. This group were also State Champs in 2018 and lost by one clay in 2019. They will receive scholarships and rings as winners. Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP)-sponsored MSSP State Championships welcomed the top 150 sporting clay, skeet, and trap shooters between the seventh and twelfth grade from around the state. Thirty different school, both public and private, participated. Each participant competed for a piece of $10,000 in college scholarships provided by the Foundation for Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks.  Once the shoot-offs for ties in the competition are determined, the winner’s names will be released. The Mississippi Scholastic Shooting Program (MSSP) is a team-based, youth development program that uses the shotgun sports of 5-Stand, Skeet, and Sporting Clays to instill life skills such as discipline, safety, teamwork, ethics, self-confidence, and other life values.  The program utilizes these disciplines to teach hunting skills through the safe use of hunting equipment, including firearms, and their relationship to hunting situations.  Team members can participate in any or all three of the clay-target disciplines: 5-Stand, Skeet, and Sporting Clays. For more information on the program, contact Director of Outreach Michelle Carter at [email protected]. Scholarship winners will be in the August paper. See: Watermelon Classic 5k