Espinosa takes 5th in U.S.
CHICAGO — Another annual National Elks Hoop Shoot is in the books and Putnam’s own Bryce Espinosa, a 12-year-old 6th grader at Putnam Middle School, was one of finalists shooting free throws at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
Espinosa has been competing for the last five years. The qualifying process requires winning at the Local level (Putnam Lodge #574), then moving on to CT District level, then CT State level, then to The New England Regionals.
He first made it all the way to the New England Regionals in 2023, and this year was the first time to the finals. This is not the first time to the Nationals for Team Espinosa! — Bryce’s older brother, TJ was a finalist back at the 2023 National Hoop Shoot.
Espinosa’s road to Chicago is impressive. At the Locals, he shot 20 of 25. He moved to the District level to score 24 of 25. On to the State level, Bryce hit another 24 of 25. Then it was on to the Regionals in Portland, Maine, where Bryce hit a perfect 25 of 25.
At the Nationals, Bryce scored an incredible 23-25. While it wasn’t enough to win the match, it was an awesome display of the hard work he put in to get there, and showed he had “Grit”!
Overall, his shooting was 116 out of 125 shots, a 93 percent success rate.
In Chicago, there were 12 finalists, representing the 12 Elks Hoop Shoot regions. They each shot 10 shots in the first round. These 12 shooters hit a total of 111 of the 120 shots taken, five of them including Bryce, hit 10 for 10.
Elk Directors noted that this was toughest competition they could remember.
Bryce hopes to qualify to shoot again next year, and Team Espinosa (including his parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends) will be ready to head back to Chicago to cheer him on again. And it wouldn’t surprise many either to see his younger sister, Teagan shooting there as well. The Elks National Hoop Shoot was a great experience and he can’t wait to take this journey again. Bryce and his family extend sincere thanks to all of the wonderful people in the Elks organization, (especially including New England Regional Directors Mike and Sharon Stewart from the Putnam Elks Lodge) for this opportunity and the wonderful work they do.
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New England Regional Directors Mike and Sharon Stewart with Bryce Espinosa.