• By GEORGE MORRIS
• News Features staff writer
• Published: Dec 25, 2009

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If you’re looking for kids who are straight shooters, you can find them a few miles to the north on U.S. 61.

That’s not to suggest that youngsters in and around St. Francisville are any more honest than their peers elsewhere. But put an air rifle in the hands of one of the West Feliciana Parish 4-H Shooting Clovers, and they’ll show you something about accuracy.

The group of shooting enthusiasts, ages 10 to 18, has won eight consecutive state team shooting championships sanctioned by the Civilian Marksmanship Program and USA Shooting, and it regularly produces shooters who rank highly in the region and nation and who earn college scholarships with their skill.

Austin Little, a former Shooting Clover, is attending Tennessee Tech on a shooting scholarship. Michael Liuzza, a current member of the team, has accepted a scholarship offer to the University of Alaska and is ranked 37th nationally among juniors by USA Shooting. Team members Christian Hashagen (14th regionally, 67th nationally), Leah Ewing (21st regionally, 96th nationally) and Tanner Morgan (33rd regionally) are ranked in the Civilian Marksmanship Program.

On Dec. 19 in McComb, Miss., Hashagen, Liuzza, Ewing and Morgan all qualified for the Junior Olympics, which will be held in April. Hashagen won the Louisiana men’s championship, with Liuzza finishing second, and Ewing won the women’s state championship.

"There will be days when I’ll come home from school and I’ll be like, ‘I do not want to come down here and shoot,’" said Christian Hashagen. "And the second I get down here and put my gear on and pick up that rifle, it always goes away. When we get done and I go home, I’m in a mood where I could stay down here and shoot for another couple of hours."

In Christian Hashagen’s case, the interest in shooting began as a child.

"My parents, when I was little, tried to keep me away from guns," he said. "They didn’t really like them. Once I got into the sport they sort of warmed up to it. They feel a little bit better about it now."

They’ve warmed up enough that they coach the team.

"We were not really a gun family until Christian got into this, and then we became very interested in what he was doing," said Christian’s father, John Hashagen. "He doesn’t play football, didn’t play baseball, didn’t play basketball, and this was his niche. When he first started, I guess we were reluctant participants. Then we bought him his first air rifle and started going to the training sessions, and Kathy, my wife, and I got certified to become coaches. Now we’re in it full bore.

The team practices on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the West Feliciana Parish Fire District 1 training facility. The youngest shooters begin with BB guns or less sophisticated sporter air rifles.

The precision air rifles are far more expensive, and shooters at that level also must use shooting attire designed to maximize accuracy. The shoes have wide, flat soles to increase stability. The shooting jackets are thick and heavy, designed to minimize unwanted movement.

"They want to be as still as they can be," said Chery Ewing, whose daughter, Leah, is on the team.