A popular saying is shoot for the stars. Durango High School student Shane Elworthy has been shooting for Nebraska for a while now.
All of Elworthy’s hard work has paid off. On Aug. 17, Elworthy qualified for a spot at the National 4-H Shooting Sports Competition in Grand Island, Nebraska in June.
“It feels awesome,” Elworthy said. “It's super rewarding. I've worked really hard on it.”
Elworthy, age 16, was born and has been raised in Durango. He’s grown up shooting BB guns in the backyard. Elworthy comes from a family full of hunters and people who enjoy sport shooting.
He joined the La Plata County 4-H Youth Development about four years ago when he heard they had .22 caliber rifle shooting sports.
Immediately, his coaches at 4-H realized that Elworthy had potential. Elworthy knew it too. Every summer, he was at 4-H practice at least once a week working on his craft.
Elworthy is going to Nebraska to compete with his small-bore .22 rifle in three disciplines: Hunt Class, Sporter and Scope.
“So there's scope, which is how it sounds: It's got a scope on it,” Elworthy said. “Then the target rifle, it's got a peep sight, or like a little hole in the back, and then in the front, it's got another peep sight in the front. Then in hunt class, in the back, it's got a V and then in the front, it's got a little pin that you line out.”
Elworthy has 40 minutes to shoot 40 shots at his targets in four different positions in each discipline. He gets 10 shots at each position and he’s 50 feet away each time. The goal is to hit the white bullseye with white rings around it on a circular black target.
In the last year, Elworthy has worked with his coaches on different techniques to help his hands stay consistent on his rifle while shooting.
His hard work was shown off at the La Plata County 4-H fair shoot on July 20. He finished within the top five at the fair shoot. He then moved on to the Colorado State Fair shoot on Aug. 17 where he placed second overall against hundreds of competitors which was good enough to get him to the national competition in Nebraska.
Before then, Elworthy wants to keep improving his scores with lots of practice.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
