From left, Aiden Griggs, Jebb Smith, Sam Long, William. Rice and Cody Taylor brought home the first T-County Clay Busters state title ever. Courtesy photo
When the five varsity shooters on the T-County Clay Busters left the state meet at the Nashville Gun Club on July 2, they did not know if they were going to be state champs, but they had a pretty good idea.
The fivesome – Sam Long (Munford High School), Cody Taylor (Brighton High School), Aiden Griggs (Covington High School), William Rice (Munford) and Jebb Smith (Munford) – hit 486 of 500 targets in the varsity trap shooting competition, putting them in first place with a few more teams still to shoot.
“The scorekeeper told them it was the best shooting she had seen all week,” said Richard Griggs, president of T-County Clay Busters, a shooting team that includes students in grades 5 through 12 from Brighton, Munford and Covington. “They knew they were going to be hard to beat.”
Two days later the results were released and they learned they were the first T-County Clay Busters team to earn a state title in the program’s 19-year history.
“This was something we’ve been working toward for a long time,” Richard Griggs said. “That varsity team represents the whole team. It’s something we’ve very proud of.”
Long led the way with a perfect score of 100 and ended up finishing third in the state in the individual competition and high overall state singles.
Several other team members competed in the event and fared very well.
T-County Clay Busters team members Mason Carnell, Caleb Rose and Carson Rose took third in rookie team trap and Carson Rose finished third in rookie trap individual.
Long, Taylor, Griggs, Rice and Smith now move on to the nationals in Illinois Aug. 2-3.
