GILLETTE, Wyo. — Four of the dozens of local children who participated in the Gillette Elks Lodge Hoop Shoot Nov. 20 will represent Gillette at the next level of competition.
Those individuals are Payton Sorenson, Harlan Inness, Tanya Boike and Brooks Baldwin, according to local coordinator Vicki Swenson. This team will compete in the NE District Competition in Casper on Jan. 27, 2024, which will also draw athletes from Casper, Lusk and Sheridan. There were no Gillette contestants in the 8- and 9-year-old or 12- and 13-year-old girls divisions. District winners will advance to the state competition, which is Feb. 10, 2024.
Here are the 2023–2024 Gillette Elks Lodge Hoop Shoot winners.
- 8- and 9-year-old boys:
- First: Brooks Baldwin
- Second: Holden Woofford
- Third: Jordan Morris
- 10- and 11-year-old boys:
- First: Armando Avilo
- Second: Harlan Inness
- Third: Hensley Johnson
Inness will represent Gillette in Casper because Avilo will be unavailable.
- 10- and 11-year-old girls:
- First: Tehya Boike
- Second: Hayley Shippy
- Third: Madison Green
- 12- and 13-year-old boys:
- First: Payton Sorenson
- Second: Jarek Fiedor
- Third: Jude Garcia, who beat John Biggs in a tiebreaker
Fiedor was the first Gillette boy to make it to nationals, which he did last year. He won the boys 10- and 11-year-old age group at the 2022–23 Regional Hoop Shoot contest in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on March 18. He and Sorensen competed in the state championship in Casper in February. There have been three Wyoming children who have won nationals.
Gillette College basketball team members assisted the Elks in running the competition, which was held in Prairie Wind Elementary’s gym.
Elks lodges across the U.S. have held the National Elks Foundation Free Throw hoop shoot competitions for 50 years, according to a flier.
