Sport
21 November, 2025
Clifton State High School shooters impress in Tamworth
Thursday and Friday, the 6th and 7th of November saw Clifton State High School's (CSHS) Clay Target team of 12 keen shooters take the five and a half hour road trip south across the border to Tamworth, New South Wales to try their luck competing in the Northern NSW and Southern Queensland Trap carnival.
The carnival was host to the best shooters from across the top of New South Wales including Narrabri, Armidale, Guyra, Glen Innes, schools from the Hunter Valley and Tamworth.
Goondiwindi and Clifton both send teams to represent the Queenslanders.
Just under a month ago, CSHS made a statement in Goondiwindi placing second in the schools section in the Southern Queensland Trap Carnival.
The success in Goondiwindi saw CSHS earn their own invitation to Tamworth to represent Southern Queensland.
Thursday was an early start enabling shooters to arrive in time for the practice shoot Thursday afternoon.
All students settled in quickly, shooting well and getting a feel of the traps and layout of the Tamworth Clay Target Club.
Looking around at the crowd, it was clearly visible that Clifton had the biggest contingency, fielding four full strength teams.
Friday’s Event 1 was a 25 Target Double Barrel event with all CSHS teams starting strong and showing no signs of travel fatigue.
Alex Atwell shot the lights out in the first round, leading from the front for Clifton sending a message that he was taking the team captaincy role very seriously.
Also on a strong start, trailing closely behind in second place were Will Horton, Beau Taylor, Toby Atwell, Jack Simpkins, Thane Hilton, Jack Warburton and none other than CSHS’s youngest team member Joe Browne.
In third place, but hot on everyone’s heels, shout out to Emily Van Tuinen, who shot a P.B. of 16/25 which was a great start, a great display to the other female shooters that she didn’t travel all that way just to muck around!
Event 2 was the not so likeable 25 Target Single Barrel event, where students get one chance and one chance only.
Alex Atwell stuck to his guns and again finished on top with a score of 16/25.
But it was Beau Taylor who stepped up in the second round, matching Alex Atwell’s score, making a statement that he was hot on his tail, only trailing him by two points after the first two events.
Again it was Thane Hilton, Jack Warburton and Year 7’s Joe Browne who placed second, all shooting an impressive 15/25.
Year 7’s Harriet Thorpe finally decided to wake up after a stern talking to by her father, also shooting a 15/25.
Event 3 was the 25 Target Point Score (3,2,0) where students get 3 points if they shot successfully on the first barrel, 2 points if they had to rely on both barrels and 0 points for a miss.
Alex Atwell continued his fine form shooting a massive 69 out of a possible 75.
Will Horton stood up in the third event, showing everyone that he was finally getting comfortable with his new Browning, shooting a 57.
Jack Simpkins shot a 54 and Toby Atwell was letting his older brother know that he was not getting intimidated, also shooting a solid 54.
Event 4 was the much anticipated 10 Pair Double Rise event - two clays simultaneously.
Alex Atwell did what he did all day and led from the front again, earning himself an impressive 14/20.
Jack Simpkins showed the field that he was finishing strong for the day shooting 11/20.
Year 8’s Emily Van Tuinen also finished on a high, placing 3rd out of the CSHS students with an impressive P.B of 11/20.
It was NSW’s The Armidale School team who took out the School Teams Trophy, finishing in first place.
Alex Atwell shot himself to second place in one of the events for the day, earning himself a prize with Jack Warburton and Harriet Thorpe each taking home $50 for an Encouragement award.
Top five shooters at Tamworth in order from C.S.H.S were in first place Alex Atwell (118), Jack Simpkins (94), Will (Wild Bill) Horton (93), Toby Atwell (89) and Emily Van Tuinen (88).
CSHS shooting Coordinator Brendon 'Thorpy' Thorpe said all students shot extremely well.
“They are just getting more competitive every time we go away which is a credit to themselves, but my pick of the team for this shoot was definitely Emily Van Tuinen," Thorpy said.
"Emily shot at an event last weekend in Brisbane and still had a bruised shoulder from that, but she stepped up, she shot through it, .
"Giving up was an option, but instead she taped a folded face washer over her shoulder under her shirt and did the opposite.
"I was really proud of Emily. Tamworth was a turning point for Emily, definitely a stand out performance for her."
Clifton Benchrest Shooting Club's Junior/Schools coordinator and club Vice President Ashleigh Brown said it was only a year ago that the club got some sponsorship together from NIOA and sent a team of three junior shooters from Clifton down south to this same event in Tamworth.
"To see that representation from our club go from just one team to four teams in only 12 months just makes me proud,” Ashleigh said.
"That’s a dozen juniors from our club, that have been through our club junior schools program, that have been taught and trained at our club by our older club members.
"I’m really passionate about our junior schools program, so yeah, just really proud of them all… I think everyone knows by now that we have a strong affiliation with the school and that we run a successful juniors shooting program in conjunction with them.
"The results are speaking for themselves - obviously we’re getting something right."
Thorpy and Ash Brown both thanked CSHS’s new A/Principal Ms Hibberd for her ongoing support in sending teams to the recent Southern Downs shoot at Goondiwindi and also the Northern N.S.W Trap Carnival in Tamworth, both held during Term 4.
