Three shooting squads from Dillon County qualified to shoot for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources State Skeet Championship on February 12, 2016. The teams earned the right to compete for the State Championship by qualifying in the 50 Bird Skeet Open event held December 12, 2015 at the Palmetto Shooting Complex in Edgefield, SC. The qualifying event was the largest skeet shoot ever held in SC with 274 competitors. Three local teams, Dillon County 4-H, Dillon Christian School, and Pee Dee Academy had squads shooting in the open competition. The teams were divided into School and Club divisions and into three age groups. The age groups were the Sr. Division which had 12th and 11th graders, the Jr. Division, which had 10th and 9th graders, and the Intermediate division which is for 8th, 7th, and 6th graders.
Two of the squads eligible to compete for the State Skeet Championship are from the Dillon County 4-H Team. Dillon County 4-H had 5 squads competing in the open event and only two qualified to return for the championship. Dillon Christian School had 3 squads competing in the open event and had one squad to be eligible to return. Pee Dee Academy had 2 squads competing in the open event and although neither squad made the cut to return, they did win 1st and 2nd place in the “New School Division”.
Cole Anders, Myers Hamer, and Walker Brumble on the Dillon County 4-H Sr. squad came in first place in the Sr. Club Division. Myers Hamer was also the High Over All (HOA) shooter for the Club Sr. Division. He was in a 4 way tie for 1st place and won the HOA honor in a shoot off. Dillon 4-H members, Zack Arrington, Justin Herring and Davis Lockamy came in third place in the Intermediate Club Division. Dillon Christian School shooters, Riley Coleman, Cooper Lane, and Connor Collins came in 4th place in the School Intermediate Division and are invited back to compete for the SCDNR State Championship as well as the South Carolina Independent School Association (SCISA) Skeet Championship. Cooper Lane was also the HOA Winner in the Intermediate school division. Samuel Coleman, Shooting for Dillon Christian School, tied for HOA in the Jr. School division.
