Olivia Brogdon Of Big Horn MS To Compete In 2024 Elks Hoop Shoot National Finals

Shooting free throws runs in one family in the Big Horn area.

Sixth Grader Olivia Brogdon of Big Horn Middle School has qualified to compete in the 2024 Elks Hoop Shoot National Finals, which will take place on Saturday, April 20th in Chicago.

The Elks Hoop Shoot is a free throw shooting contest for children ages 8 to 13.

Contestants shoot 25 free throws, with the highest score winning, and a shoot-off will take place in the event of a tie.

From this past December through March, Brogdon competed in the girls 12-13 age category and has won at the school level, county, district, state, and recently the regional level, which was held in Colorado Springs, Colorado and consisted of state champs from Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas.

Brogdon explains she first tried out shooting free throws as a fun activity, but then it grew on her and she developed a pattern.

“My PE teacher was like ‘you should try out for this,’ and it was 2020, so I was 8 or 9 I don’t remember and so we didn’t get to go past the first level, but we thought it was pretty cool, so we kept doing it and we didn’t realize how big it was, until last year, when my sister made it to nationals. It’s more of a mind game I think. Once you get so far, it’s more of how you can handle the pressure. I usually just sing a song or just don’t really think about anything. It just has to be the same form every time.”

Olivia’s older sister, Maggie, was last year’s national runner-up in the girls 12-13 age category.

At the recent regional competition, Olivia defeated a girl from Colorado, who was last year’s national champion in the 10-11 age category.