The Southern Thunder Shooting teams are comprised of 3 teams in 3 divisions of the Scholastic Clay Target program. The divisions are Junior Novice, sixth through eighth grade students who have never competed before, Senior Novice, ninth through twelfth grade who have never competed before and Senior Experienced.

The 3 teams set off for Muscle Shoals in the hope of placing in the state competition. All teams placing in the state competition would be invited to the National Championships in Vandalia Ohio to compete for their share of college scholarship money to be awarded to the top 3 finishers in each category. The Southern Thunder teams competed against teams from all over the State including the Bluff Creek team from Phil Campbell Alabama who won the National Championship in the Senior division last year.

Senior team coach Jerry Lawrence was delighted when his senior team drew 13 as their squad number. “That’s my lucky number” he said. Luck had nothing to do with it as the 3 teams crushed target after target that day. David Floyd coach of the Junior novice team remarked “the competition here is incredible.” The Southern Thunder Senior Experienced team broke 915 of 1000 targets for the day. At the end of the day all 3 teams placed in each of their 3 divisions.

The 3s were not over yet. 3 team members placed as the top shooters in 3 different categories. Lauren Floyd was the top Lady shooter, Dustin Wallace was the top shooter in the Senior category and Mathew Gossett won the Junior high gun in an exciting shoot off. David Wolford coach of the Senior novice team remarked “my new lucky number is 3”.

The team members are:
Senior Experienced: Taylor Lawrence, Dustin Wallace, Corby Howard, Lauren Floyd and Kyle Baker.
Senior Novice: Jordan Higgins, Kristi Wolford, Erin Hames, Owen Roberts, Heather Gray and Kristi Dillard.
Junior Novice: Mathew Gossett, Andrew Wolford, Jessie Floyd, Cory Parks,_ Logan Pate, and Dustin Spruiell.