Potts claims second place at L-L Rifle Tournament

The range was his sanctuary, a place he calmly went about his business.

The cafeteria, in front his teammates, that was a different story.

Joel Potts, an Ephrata junior, seemed nervous as he answered a question in front of his rifle teammates Saturday in the cafeteria at Conestoga Valley High School.

So he casually walked behind a dividing wall and continued to finish his comment.

The question: How did it feel to finish second in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Rifle Championship at CV.

“Sweet,” he said after learning his fate in the 42-shooter field. “It feels great. I wish it was first, but someone else shot better and I congratulate them.”

The better shooter was Elizabethtown’s Caleb Flores, who held off Potts by the narrowest of margins, 200-4C to 200-2C.

Flores and his teammates earned the L-L League championship with a score of 992-9C. Ephrata finished fourth with a 984-6C score in the eight-team field.

From a team perspective, it was not the way Mountaineers’ coach Steve Smith wanted to end the season.

“As a team we could have done better,” he said. “Nerves were a big factor. They are young. In a tournament, kids tend to get more excited and with rifle that is not something you want to have.”

For the league tournament, shooters shoot at two 10-meter air rifle targets during a 20-minute time limit. During the regular season they shoot at one target, not two. Some shooters and coaches believe the second target is a game changer.

Smith said he does not have his squad concentrate on two targets until the end of the season. The additional target, competing for a championship and knowing it is the last time they will shoot this year can throw some shooters off.

No such issue for Potts, who was making his second appearance in the championship. He finished fifth as a sophomore. He credits shooting for the Palmyra Club team with his familiarity with shooting two targets.

Samantha Hurst was the next highest scorer for the Mounts, placing 13th in the championship with a 197-1C score. The senior was not happy with her performance, though.

“I knew I could do well and shoot 200 or I could psych myself out and the second thing happened,” she said.

“She did well for a tournament,” Smith said. “She’s shot better in practice, but her finish is a nice way to end the season.”

Brianna Bowers (195-3C), Joshua Potts (195), Nicole Johnson (195) and Kyle Good (193) round out Ephrata’s shooters for the championship.

It was a successful season for the Mounts, who placed Potts, Herr and Good on the end of the season All-Star team and finished the regular season with the second highest average score in the league. They were also first in the B Pairs Division for first-year shooters not competing the prior season. With only two seniors shooting Saturday, the future looks bright for the Mounts.

Ephrata finished with a 9-5 record, fighting down to the wire with Manheim Township, CV, Elizabethtown and Manheim Central, the eventual regular season league champ.

“We had a lot of close matches that could have gone either way by a point,” Smith said. “This was one of my strongest teams and we started the season shooting well, but didn’t shoot as well later in second half of the season.”

Potts ended the year on a high note for the Mounts. Smith said he told Potts to just relax and focus on the basics.

Easier said than done, Potts said.

As he prepared to shoot he felt his heart racing. Not sure if it was nerves, he told himself to remain calm, to focus on his shots.

“I wanted to get the first shot out of the way and locked in from there,” Potts said.

“I knew I couldn’t think about winning. I focused on being as calm as possible and don’t think about how I did last year.”

He worked on calming himself and not thinking too much, just one shot at a time and not the end result. He slowed down a bit and shot slower than he normally does.

Usually he gets through shooting two target in 12 minutes. Saturday he took about 16 minutes, focusing on each shot, making sure he wasn’t shaking.

“I was fortunate to shoot all 10s,” Potts said. “The key was being calm.”

Now, if he could only talk as calmly in front of his teammates.

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