JUNIOR SPORT - Clay Shooting - Class act takes home 17 medals

Whangarei Boys' High School clay target shooters again dominated proceedings at two of their annual events held in the school holidays.
Twelve shooters went to Hamilton to compete at the Hamilton Boys High School Shooting Competition and the North Island School Competition this month.
The teams were split into two teams with Nick Gavin, Brent Martin, Ethan Erceg, Tim Mannion and Logan Rankin the No1 team, and Ian King, Hugh McKenzie, Hayden Coote, Rhys Were and Josh Wilson in the No2 team.
Matthew King and Trent Neighbour, shooting as individuals in competition, were also in the team.
There were 250 shooters from throughout the North Island over the two days of competition. On Friday, weather conditions were extremely difficult with strong winds, rain and hail but, once again, the Whangarei Boys' High shooters showed their experience by coping well under pressure.
The No2 team outpointed the No1 team by four points on the Friday shoot, winning the teams event by shooting 294/300.
The No1 team were equal with Hamilton Boys High School with 290/300 points and, after a shoot-off, Whangarei Boys held on to take second place in the competition, leaving Hamilton Boys in third.
The next day, the boys shot in the North Island competition with the No1 team winning the teams event with a score of 297/300 equalling the national school record of only three points dropped.
The No2 team were second equal with Waiuku College on 283/300 and, after a tense shoot-off, the Whangarei Boys dominated to take second clearly.
There were some great individual successes at the shoot as well. Ethan Erceg won the North Island High Over All (HOA) points score event and Brent Martin was first in the boys' event after a shoot-off with six others, who had all shot 60/60.
The boys were then placed by their coaches into two-man teams for the Skeet Competition with the WBHS No1 team of Nick Gavin and Ethan Erceg winning this event with a score of 46/50. Ian King and Tim Mannion were placed second with a score of 45/50.
There were also some impressive individual results with Nick Gavin winning HOA in Skeet after a shoot-off with Ethan Erceg who was placed first in boys. Ian King was placed second in this event. Overall, the WBHS shooters won 17 medals - 11 gold and six silver. They also won two cups for their HOA achievements.
Coaches Chris Erceg and Mike Newson were impressed with and proud of the achievements of the boys.
Their manager, Annette Erceg, said:
"They are a class act and will be hard to follow."
Caption details: ON TARGET FOR GOLD AND SILVER: Back row (from left): Hayden Coote, Hugh McKenzie, Matthew King, Chris Erceg (coach), Annette Erceg (manager), Mike Newson (coach), Brent Martin, Rhys Were. Front row (from left): Nick Gavin, Ethan Erceg, Logan Rankin, Josh Wilson, Tim Mannion, Trent Neighbour, Ian King.