Olivia Brogdon Of Big Horn MS Competing In 2025 Elks Hoop Shoot National Competition

A Big Horn Middle Schooler will once again try to become a national champion at the free throw line.

Seventh grader Olivia Brogdon is in Chicago, Illinois to compete in this Saturday’s (April 26th) Elks Hoop Shoot National Competition.

The contest will take place inside Wintrust Arena, which is where the Chicago Sky of the WNBA play, as well as the basketball teams from DePaul University.

Brogdon says the location of the competition and the atmosphere is much different compared to shooting free throws in a common gym, but the objective of the competition hasn’t changed.

“It’s kind of crazy because it’s a raised court, so you have to step up. It’s just kind of crazy, because the lighting, and then there’s all the seats around you, so it’s intense and the depth perception with the backboard is a lot different, because there’s a lot of space, but at the end of the day, it’s the same 10 feet, same 15 footer, still the same.”

Brogdon is last year’s National Runner-Up in the Girls Age 12-13 category, losing by 1 shot.

All competitors get 25 shots in increments of 10, 10 and 5.

When last year’s competition was over, Brogdon was tied with a girl from Wisconsin, and it took 3 rounds of a shoot-off to settle things (5 extra shots per shoot-off round).

This time around, she took the same road to get to the national competition, by winning the state and then the regional competition, which included state champs from Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas.

Brogdon adds she still takes the same approach when she steps up to the free throw line.

“I still sing a song. I tend to focus on the lyrics and not really much of what’s happening. I put so much work in, so at the end of the day, it’s the same shot and just let the muscle memory take over.”

The girls age 12-13 category will have their turn on the court on Saturday at 1pm Mountain Time, or 2pm in Chicago.

The girl that beat Olivia last year has aged out of the competition and will not be back to defend her title.

Brogdon’s older sister, Maggie, was National Runner-Up 2 years ago and just finished her freshman season on the Big Horn High School girls basketball team.

Click here to see Olivia Brogdon profile for the National Competition.