The Emmaus rifle team captured their second straight regular-season championship of the Northeast Pennsylvania Rifle League (NEPARL) this past week.
The Hornets defeated Southern Lehigh 500 (43x) – 497 (29x) at their home range at Unami in Emmaus to clinch the title.
Head coach Michael Schuler’s team finished the season with a 9-1 record, one game better than the Spartans.
“We had six student-athletes in the Top 20 this season in Sanaiya O’Neal, Zach Brenner, Madison Carreiro, Molly Yard, Jared Zetterburg and Jayden Conway,” said Schuler. “We also tied with Southern Lehigh for the most students that shot a 100 during the season.
“The team showed up and everyone worked together really well and losing an admittedly great part of the team in Griffin Lake (now at West Virginia University) didn’t slow us down, as we placed first in the league in back to back years. I’m really proud of how resilient the team was after losing our only match this week (to Freedom), posting four 500s (perfect scores) in a row to finish out the season after that match.”
Up next for Emmaus will be the NEPRL All-Star Tournament on Tuesday at East Stroudsburg South High School at 2 p.m. followed by the team tournament on February 1, state individual on February 8 and state team on February 15.at Southern Lehigh.
“I think we’ll have a great showing at the states in a few weeks here, obviously aiming for our second state championship title in the last three years,” said Schuler.
Emmaus last won states in 2021-2022. Penn-Trafford from the Pittsburgh area won last year’s state title. The Hornets finished third.
Members of this year’s team include:
Seniors – Emily Butsavage, Madison Carreiro, Jayden Conway, Aidan Furniss, Benjamin McCabe, Charles Peters and Molly Yard;
Juniors – Bryce Dunn, Rowan Kratz, Sanaiya O’Neal, Shannon Yard and Jared Zetterberg;
Sophomores – Evan Borkowski, Aesun Bowers, Zach Brenner, Steven Johns and Quinn Peck;
Freshmen – Joseph Bonaventura, Ethan Brown, Evan Carlson, Zining Fan, Ryan Feldman, Emily Grabinski, Miguel Manfredi, Eli McDonald, Chase Miller, Dallas Morales, Audrey Pawlak, Cole Stamberger, Nathan Young and Gavin Zimmerman.
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NEPARL Standings:
Emmaus 9-1
Solehi 8-2
ES South 8-2
Stroudsburg 6-4
Kutztown 6-4
Freedom 5-5
Berwick 5-5
North Pocono 5-5
Liberty 3-7
ES North 0-10
Salisbury 0-10