The National Secondary Schools' Shooting Championship - better known as The NZ Triple S Champs - is New Zealand's newest shooting competition and is now in its 13th year. It is open to all NZ secondary school students. This is aimed at giving secondary school shooters the chance to compete nationally for both individual and team glory and recognition.
Oh! My! Goodness! The tension was unbearable this last round as we were watching the scores come in. Would Blake continue his fantastic form? Would Megan win for a record-breaking third time? Or would someone else overtake both of them and claim the glory? And the results are in....
The SSS Champs for 2023 has finished....Congratulations to Megan Brodie from Queen Margaret College - our Secondary Schools' Shooting Championship winner for 2023.
Megan's second round 96.4 had put her on the back foot and she was always playing catch up as Blake Allison continued his fantastic winning streak, but it all came down to her brilliant final round of 198.14 - the highest score of the round and one which propelled her to the win with a total of 492.26. A mere 4 inners behind (on 492.22) was second placed Charlotte McKenzie from Ashburton College who was then just a single inner ahead of Caley McNair (on 492.21) from Dannevirke High School. I don't think we've had a final three so close in the entire time this competition has been running. This is a real testament to the shooting talent that we've seen this year.
Charlotte McKenzie (492.22), Caley McNair (492.21) and Ryan Booth (490.23) are the top 3 in A Grade taking it to the wire with each of them managing to hold onto their positions from the 3rd round.
In B Grade, Finn Darrall's 197.10 allowed him to overtake Blake Allison's final round of 192.06 to win by B Grade by a single inner, with Phoebe McKenzie's 196.09 putting her a single point behind Blake for 3rd place. Again, a single point separating our top 3 B Graders. Awesome stuff!!!
In C Grade, Bryn Blacklaws (488.18) was under pressure from Zach Wood (485.18) who clawed back 3 points in the final round, but Bryn's lead from Round 3 was enough for him to take the C Grade win by 3 points. Eliza McKenzie follwed them into 3rd place with a respectable final score of 481.16.
In D Grade it was Toby in front, then Tyler and then Toby and.... congratulations to Toby for hanging on for the win with the top D Grade score of 195.07, finishing 8 points clear of second placed Sophia Clifford (476.09) who managed to leapfrog Tyler Kerr whose final score of 475.11 gave him 3rd place just a single inner behind.
In the School Team's event, AshburtonCollege Gold team delivered just that - gold - with an outstanding shoot throughout the entire competition (total: 1954.94) to take first place by an incredible 14 points. Cambridge High School 1 took a well deserved second place with 1940.71, a clear 20 points ahead of Ashburton College Red's 1920.57.
Deadlines for each round were:
Round 1 10 shot card Completed by Sunday 4th June
Round 2 10 shot card Completed by Sunday 2nd July
Round 3 10 shot card Completed by Sunday 6th August
Round 4 20 shot card Completed by Sunday 3rd September
And Round 3 for 2023 has finished....
Blake Allison's fantastic run of 100's didn't last, but then again it didn't have to! His 99.3 extended his lead by another point to be 4 ahead of Charlotte McKenzie whose 100.5 saw her storm into second place, 2 inners ahead of Caley McNair on 295.11.
Charlotte McKenzie (295.13), Caley McNair (295.11) and Ryan Booth (294.15) are the top 3 in A Grade so a single point separating them will make for a gripping final round. Madi Tourle's been improving through the whole competition and her brilliant 100.4 has lifted her to 4th in A Grade.
In B Grade, Blake Allison (299.13) is now 5 points clear of Phoebe McKenzie (294.18) who holds a slim lead of 5 inners over Finn Darrall (294.13). Will Finn overtake Phoebe? Will Phoebe keep ahead of Finn? Or will both of them beat Blake? We'll know soon enough.....
In C Grade, Bryn Blacklaws (293.11) has continued to extend his lead to be 6 points ahead of Eliza McKenzie (289.10) whose solid 98.4 moved her into second place. Luke Rhodes (288.10) rounds out the top 3, a single point behind Eliza. Bryn's lead would look safe, if it wasn't for the final round's 20 shot match where anything can, and usually does, happen!
In D Grade it was Toby in front, then Tyler and now Toby again and with a single point separating them (289.10 vs 288.07) who'll come out on top is anyone's guess, but with Courtney Parlett (285.03) just three points behind them they'd better keep an eye out for the competition too!
And Round 2 for 2023 has finished....
Well, if you thought Blake Allison's 100.4 in the first round was just a fluke then you'd better think again! He just shot a brilliant 100.6 to extend his lead to 3 points over Ryan Booth on 197.13 and Caley McNair on 197.08. Fantastic shooting!!!
Ryan's still leading A Grade, but Caley McNair has closed the gap to be a mere 5 inners behind so Caley's keeping the pressure on Ryan for sure!
In B Grade, Blake Allison's 100.6 puts him on 200.10, four points ahead of Finn Darrall's 196.10 and Phoebe McKenzie's 195.12. Again, excellent scores for B Grade!
In C Grade, Bryn Blacklaws extended his lead to be 2 points ahead of Chris Duff's 192.08, with Chris just a single inner ahead of Luke Rhodes. C Grade remains as competitive as ever!
In D Grade, Tyler Kerr has swapped places with Toby Gyde. Tyler is in 1st place on 191.05 with Sophia Clifford and Toby Gyde equal on 191.04, a mere inner behind Tyler. D Grade is really shaping up to be the most competitive of all the grades!
Round 1 for 2023 has finished....
The top shot this round was Blake Allison (Cambridge High School) with a fantastic 100.4 (the only 100 in this opening round). Well done Blake. Just a single inner separates the 99.5 from Ryan Booth (Darfield High School) and the 99.4 from Megan Brodie (Queen Margaret College), so the competition is looking tight at the top of the leaderboard.
Ryan's leading A Grade, but with Jack Jones and Caley McNair both on 98.4 Ryan won't have much of a chance to relax!
In B Grade, Blake Allison's 100.4 puts him two points clear of Finn Darrall's 98.6 and Phoebe McKenzie's 97.5. These are great scores for B Grade!
In C Grade, Bryn Blacklaws' 97.3 is just a single point ahead of Zach Wood and Chris Duff who are both on 96.3. It looks like the competition in C Grade is also going to be really tight.
In D Grade, Toby Gyde's and Sophia Clifford's scores are separated by just 2 inners (96.3 and 96.1 respectively) with Tyler Kerr just another point back on 95.3. Well done on a great first round!
Is this a team or an individual thing?
Both! Every shooter enters an individual category first. Then, if 4 or 5 individual shooters at a school want to, they can put a team together. Schools can enter as many teams as they wish (of course, one shooter can only shoot for one team!).
What are the categories?
Master Grade
- A Grade
- B Grade
- C Grade
- D Grade
- Ungraded
Teams can be made up of shooters from any grades (including ungraded). The winning teams will be the one with the highest scores.
The prizes
At the end of the competition, badges and certificates will be awarded for:
- the top 3 shooters in each individual category, and
- the top 3 teams, and
- the top 3 individual shooters.
Certificates will also be awarded to the top 3 schools in the team event.
If you have any questions, please email Evan Little.