Northland shooters win national title

Three Northland schools were aiming high when they sent teams to Christchurch for the Fish and Game South Island and New Zealand Secondary School Clay Target Championships.
Whangarei Boys' High School, Dargaville High School and Tauraroa Area School sent teams to the McLeans Island range during the holidays with all three enjoying success. All three schools had shooters selected into the Northland regional team after they performed well over the weekend's competition and the team then went on to win the national title for Northland.
The event was held on Monday over a triples course and after a tense wait to see how the other regions scored, it was announced that the Northland team had won.
The national competition drew 297 competitors and 47 teams from around the country.
Tauraroa's Brendon Graham had a great day on the first day of the shoot, winning the South Island Points Score title, while teammate Brady Roberts snared a top 10 place in the single rise shoot.
The Dargaville team were on fire on the first day winning the South Island Point Score Teams Event, with a combined team score of 285/300. It was a great achievement for the team and Jason Nola almost backed that up after shooting a possible of 20/20 in the single rise event and after a shoot off, he finished seventh.
Dargaville's Joshua Nilsson notched up a perfect 60/60 in the point score, but after a shoot off, finished third with Brendon Graham from Tauraroa Area School holding his nerve in the shoot-off to finish in first place.
The second day of shooting saw the New Zealand titles up for grabs with Tauraroa's Regan Keay the star of the day after he earned first place in the New Zealand Single Barrel Championship.
Tauraroa's team came fourth in the New Zealand Teams Points Score Competition and Mason and Brendon were selected in the North Island title on Sunday, with the their team taking out the competition.
Tauraroa School was also presented with their title for winning the Kilwell/Gamebore Interschool Postal Shoot Competition, which is open to all schools throughout New Zealand, and was won by the school in the first time.
Dargaville High School: Matthew Frood, Ethan Pocklington, Jason Nola, Kash Naysmith, Joshua Nilsson and Michael Boyd.

Tauraroa Area School: Brendon Graham, Regan Keay, Sean Roberts, Brady Roberts, Bradley Skelton, Mitchell Budgen, Kenneth Anderson.