Clover Jr. ROTC rifle team takes aim at No. 1 Nation Ford this week

The Clover Jr. ROTC air rifle team has already taken huge strides in its so far brief existence, but what they accomplished at the recent 2017 Air Force national championship in Anniston, Ala. is turning heads throughout the nation.

Clover began its air rifle team three years ago under the supervision of Master Staff Sergeant Clarence Woodham, who started the team after a successful coaching stint at South Pointe. Last year, the team placed fourth at the Air Force Nationals, but last month, the team took first place with an aggregate score of 4,239, which edged Sickles High School (Fla.) by 56 points for the title.

“They did really well,” Woodham said.

“We’re growing and we’re getting a little better every year. The kids learn a lot with the shooting about self discipline and self control. The bulls eye they shoot at is the size of the tip of a pen, so it takes a lot of discipline. It’s less than 1/16th of an inch between each line between the nine ring and the eight ring and on down.

“We have 300-plus cadets in our program and we let all of them shoot at least once to see if they like it. From that, we glean off 25 to 30 kids and the top shooters end up on our two teams, but our second team, which is made up mostly of first-year shooters, didn’t qualify since it’s the first time they have ever shot.”

But the team that did qualify certainly left its mark.

Led by junior Brianna Fish, the Blue Eagles took the team and individual titles.

Fish had an aggregate score of 1,086 to win the individual title, posting another first for the up-and-coming Clover air rifle team.

“Brianna is a junior and this is her third year shooting,” Woodham said.

“She’s been practicing a lot and this summer she went to a week-long clinic in Alabama and that’s helped her, but we practice three or four times a week and that’s helped her get better. What she did was very impressive.”

So was the rest of the team, which consists of Kristopher Dauble, Emily Morse and Alex Rulevich with Austin Blight serving as the alternate.

Dauble more than held his own, as the senior had an aggregate score of 1,068 to place fifth in the nation.

Rulevich had an aggregate score of 1,061 and finished ninth in the nation and Morse wasn’t far back with a score of 1,024.

“It’s a pleasure to coach these kids because they’re all good kids, and to see a kid grow from not shooting too well to six or seven months later where they are competitive nationally, that’s really great to see,” Woodham said.

“The performance was huge for us. First off, it draws attention to us as far as our ROTC program because everyone wants to be on something that’s No. 1 in the nation. Our Facebook page blew up when we posted it with parents, the community and people from our school. It will do a lot for our team, and only one of those kids – Kristopher – is a senior so we’ll have everyone back, so we could be even better next year.”

The Clover team has a match with Nation Ford – which is the No. 1-ranked Marine Corps team in the nation – and six other teams March 16.

“We shoot against the kids from Nation Ford High School, which is ranked No. 1 in the nation, so that has helped us also,” Woodham said. “For the same county to have the No. 1 Marine Corps team and the No. 1 Air Force team is extremely rare and that’s probably a first.”

After that, Clover and Nation Ford will join teams from all over the country at the All Service Nationals, which will be March 23-25 in Anniston, Ala., and will decide the overall national champion.

“It is remarkable what they were able to do,” Woodham said.

“The Air Force tournament isn’t really part of our curriculum, so it’s more like an extra curricular for us. We go to it through donations and other means whereas the Marine Corps has their own ranges for kids to shoot at, but it was huge for us and really big for our school and especially our ROTC program.

“And it has given our shooters a lot of confidence.”

This story was originally published March 11, 2017 at 11:47 AM with the headline "Clover Jr. ROTC rifle team takes aim at No. 1 Nation Ford this week."