Hoop Dreams

Tayler Lancaster, a flamboyant 4th grader at Drexel Elementary, competed Saturday, February 7th, 2009 in Imperial, MO, a suburb of St. Louis, for the State Finals of the Elk’s National “Hoop Shoot” Free Throw Contest. Tayler competed against seven other districts throughout the state. She competed in the girls 8-9 year-old division.
The Hoop Shoot is a national event held annually and sponsored by the Elk’s Lodges through the state. In Missouri alone over 70,000 kids participated with ages ranging from 8 to 13. Locally, the event started first in the schools with kids shooting and moving on from there to the Cass County finals which were held in Harrisonville at the Middle School. After winning there they must compete for the district title which includes the Kansas City area and southward. At that point the district champions moved on to the state finals held in St. Louis.
At the finals Tayler shot 8 out of 10 in the first round to lead the competition in her division. Unfortunately, the second round she shot 6 out of 15 to end up with a fourth place finish. Not a bad accomplishment considering there were around...
Read the complete story in the February 12th edition.