Joshua Crowned Champion of Champions

Joshua Pratt is set to make his mark on the rifle shooting world stage.

Congratulations to Joshua who was the Club Champion and U25 Champion for the Natives Rifle Club. To achieve this he needed the overall highest score competing in 300, 400, 500, 600, 800, 900 and 1000 yards over the 2018 year. Although he was graded as B Grade with the Club he beat all the A Grade competitors (by 2 points) so he was crowned the Club Champion for 2018.
His rifle club (Natives Rifle Club) is based at Belmont in the MDRA District so a couple of weeks ago he competed at Belmont in the MDRA District championships in the Open and U25 categories. He won the U25 category and came second in the Open category. Last Saturday he competed in the next level which was the Champion of Champions with all District champions from all over Queensland competing against each other. He won the U25 category by 11 points and actually had the highest score on the range (by 1 point) beating all other open and veteran competitors. However, as he was only competing in the U25 category he was only recognised for that category. This gives him the title of Qld U25 Target Rifle State Champion. There are no further competitions above this level.
For the remainder of the weekend he competed in the City vs Country coached teams competition and it’s just as it sounds: competitors from city versus competitors from the country. It was a 10 man team and although Country beat City overall, Josh obtained the highest combined score again on the range for the 3 ranges.
On the weekend of 11 and 12 May he has been asked to trial for the Open age group State Team.  As if this were not recognition enough, he also spent a weekend training with the Airforce Cadets with a 22 rifle shooting 25m targets and will probably be competing for his squadron in these competitions, later this year.
Head of Secondary Joshua Mansfield was not surprised with these results, ‘Nothing seems to surprise me anymore with Joshua.  He clearly has big goals in this sport and I cannot wait to watch him compete at the highest level in the near future if he continues this trajectory.  But the most important thing with Josh – he is such a humble student, doesn’t want any extra attention drawn to him, and is happily returning to school after big tournaments keen to just get on with life.’
Head of Sports Lynda Williams also reflected ‘Joshua is clearly a determined athlete.  It seems to me that he is able to adjust to the conditions and has the ability to improve quickly.  I know his parents are proud of him, and so are we here at Westside Christian College.
Westside Christian College wishes to congratulate Joshua on an outstanding achievement.

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