Ten Hillsborough area boys and girls age 9 to 14 were named local champions of the Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship and have earned the right to compete next at the district level.
The Millstone Valley Council 11415 in East Millstone sponsored the local competition at Auten Road School on Jan. 31.
Each contestant was allowed 15 free throw attempts. Ties were settled by successive rounds of free throws until a winner emerged.
Tiffany Pecorella was the 9-year-old girls’ champion and Alex Marchetti was the winner of the 9-year-old boys’ division.
Kylie Freeman was the 10-year-old girls’ champion and Maxwell Treonze was the winner of the 10-year-old boys’ division.
In the 11-year-olds’ bracket, Olivia Gaspar was the girls’ champion and Austin Rehman was the top boy.
Twelve-year-old winners in the girls’ and boys’ divisions were Elizabeth Ford and Alec Bongiovanni, repectively.
The 13-year-old girls’ competition was won by Makayla Petrillo.
The 14-year-old boys’ winner was Patrick Cassidy Jr.
There were no 13-year-old boys or 14-year-old girls participating.
The Knights of Columbus thanked all of the youngsters who participated and all of the volunteers who worked for the event.
Last year, nearly 120,000 sharpshooters participated in 3,600 competitions nationally. All contestants on the local level are recognized for participation.
The Knights of Columbus is an Catholic, family, fraternal, service organization with more than 1.8 million members in more than 15,000 local councils.
