More than 100 students from the five secondary schools in Wellington Shire descended upon the Sale Field & Game range on Monday, October 16, to participate in the final inter-school shooting event for the year – The Wellington Schools Greg Gonzalez Memorial Shoot.
It was a cool day with a chilly breeze, and while there were some showers during the day, Maffra Secondary College, Sale College, Yarram Secondary College, Catholic College Sale, and Gippsland Grammar students completed the shoot without disruption.
The event has been running for 16 years and aims to bring the schools together early in Term 4 to enjoy the sport of simulated field clay target shooting.
Students are grouped in squads of five and shoot two rounds of 10 simulated targets at five stands, with two single barrel targets at each stand.
A referee and a scorer accompany each squad of shooters, handing a shell to each competitor when it is their turn to shoot.
The targets are different at each stand, from incoming, crossing, outgoing, springing straight up and even a ‘rabbit’ target, thrown to run across the ground in front of the competitor.
A special mention must be made of the Gonzalez family for their fantastic sponsorship of this event.
Greg Gonzalez Senior, a long-time Field and Game member, died earlier this year, and the family wanted to commemorate his love of shooting.
When this event was mentioned, the family were overjoyed to give their dad’s name to an event that would encourage the younger generation to be involved in the sport he loved.
All had a great day, with referees, scorers, armoury officials, office and trap setters supplied by the Sale F&G branch with help from field and game members from across Gippsland.
A great canteen staffed by the Sale members, teachers caring for kids and watching over equipment, targets and ammo supplied by the Sale branch, parents supporting their kids and presided over by a very efficient and relaxed Gary (Pud) Howard, all led to a rewarding time for everyone involved.
Greg Gonzalez Junior presented the prizes after giving a short address to all in memory of his father and what the event would have meant to him.
Alex Whitehead from Maffra Secondary College took out first place in the senior boys competition, and Ella O’Doherty from Gippsland Grammar won first place in the senior girls competition.
Oliver Witt from Catholic College Sale won first place in the junior boys competition, and Darcee Young from Gippsland Grammar took out first place in the junior girls competition.
The winning team was Gippsland Grammar #1, comprised of Nathaniel Shelton, James Westman, Sam Ditchburn, Jole Hooper and Braith Stayley.
The Sale F&G Club would like to sincerely thank the Gonzalez family for their very generous sponsorship of this event.
