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(07/02/24) BATON ROUGE, La. — The Louisiana 4-H Shooting Sports Team are once again reigning national champions after defeating competitors from across the United States.
The team has placed first in four out of the past five national competitions, including 2019, 2021 and 2023, with a second-place finish in 2022 and the 2020 event being canceled due to COVID restrictions.
This year’s event, held June 23 to 28 in Grand Island, Nebraska, involved 708 4-H youth between the ages of 14 and 18. Contestants came from 40 states, and Louisiana sent 36 participants and nine coaches to the competition.
4-H youth development instructor David Boldt said he was thrilled with the team’s accomplishments and stressed how impressive it is to win the overall competition as many times as the Louisiana delegation has.
According to Boldt, two teams finished in first place, two teams finished second, two teams finished third, one team finished fourth and two teams finished seventh. Overall, all nine of the Louisiana 4-H teams finished in the top seven of their respective events.
The nine discipline areas included air pistol, air rifle, compound archery, hunting skills, muzzle loading, recurve archery, shotgun, small-bore pistol and small-bore rifle.
The categories in which Bayou State teams took home the top prizes were air pistol and small-bore rifle.
“It was an unbelievable year,” Boldt said “Those crazy team results are a first for Louisiana, and we have seen some really good years.”
The Louisiana delegation placed first overall, which is a sweepstakes award comprised of how the nine teams from a respective state placed.
“These kids keep setting the bar high for future teams,” Boldt said. “I want to thank the kids, parents, chaperones and coaches for their great representation of our Louisiana shooting sports program. What a great group to be around.”
Two individuals placed first and 20 out of 36 Louisiana participants placed in the top 10 individually. The two first-place finishers were KG Bourgoyne from Assumption Parish in air pistol and Victoria McClung from Bossier Parish in the small-bore rifle category.
Team Louisiana took home the 2024 National 4-H Shooting Sports Championship. This is the fourth time the team has won the title since 2019. Photo provided by David Boldt/LSU AgCenter
