Hines Furniture Athletes of the Year: Wilson Hall's Ann Weathers Blankenship and James Hiott

ANN WEATHERS BLANKENSHIP
Wilson Hall
Girls Shooting

The seventh-grader placed in the top three in her division in sporting clays five out of six times with three of them being first place. Her high score was 95 out of 100 targets in her final competition. She placed first and second, respectively, in two skeet events and placed third in the trap event. She and teammates Madison Galiano and Samantha Richards formed the runner-up team in the SCISA state tournament.

“My dad (Matt Blankenship) coaches a team and my brothers have all done it, so I wanted to do it. I feel like I’ve been successful because my dad and my team believes in me and encourages me to be my very best. (I’m motivated) probably by all of the older girls I’ve seen shoot, and that inspires me because I want to be that good one day.” — Ann Weathers Blakenship

“Ann Weathers, even from a year ago when she first started, has come along really well. This year she continued to learn good habits and get her fundamentals down. She has really taken off. I think she really is a student of shooting. She asks a lot of questions.” — Wilson Hall Head Coach Brent Hiott


JAMES HIOTT
Wilson Hall
Boys Shooting

The eighth-grader had five top 10 divisional finishes in sporting clays with a third-place finish in the SCISA junior varsity state tournament. He led his squad shooting in the 90s in three tournaments. In skeet, he had two fifth-place divisional finishes with his squad placing second in both tournaments. He shot a 40 out of 50 in Wilson Hall’s lone trap tournament.

“I get pleasure and enjoyment (from shooting). It kind of relieves me from the world.”  — James Hiott

“He’s really come on with his style, his fundamentals. He’s never shot his (age) division; he’s always shot up a division, so he’s really doing well. He’s come along real good in all three disciplines.” — Wilson Hall Head Coach Brent Hiott