Feb 4, 2017 3 min read

Two local youths qualified to advance to the American Legion 3-position Regional after finishing in the top 25 in the nation in the recently completed first round of shooting.

Haley Wilkerson and Wade Richards, both of whom shoot for the Frazier-Simplex Rifle Club, will advance to the regional finals, which must be completed before March 31.

Wilkerson, who lives in Claysville, finished third overall among eligible shooters with a score of 590-40X, just behind Emily Stith of Colorado, who shot a 591-49X.

Richards, of Hickory, was 19th with a score of 585-37X.

The shooters compete at their own range under the observation of an official match witness. If they finish in the top 15 of the regional tournament, they advance to the National Championship Tournament, which will be held July 18 through 23 at the USA Shooting Facility at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Col.

As a team, Frazier-Simplex finished 39th despite having just four shooters compete. Overall winner, Sutter Union High School from California, had 15 shooters and all scores count toward the final score.

• If you’ve missed seeing Joe’s Wildside Adventures on Root Sports, you’re not alone.

Joe Rossi, the Peters Township resident who was the star of the show, misses doing the show, as well.

Rossi is no longer shooting episodes of Joe’s Wildside Adventures, which used to air on Sunday mornings and then again on Tuesday and Thursday on Root, after a change in ownership at the channel forced him to give up the show after a 10-year run.

But, given his connections in the business of travelling and around the world to film his show, he’s branching out and becoming a travel agent, of sorts, for outdoorsmen.

“I took all the lodges and places I’ve filmed at over the years and I’m working with them,” said Rossi. “If you go to a typical outfitter, they only have the one place that they’re working for. I’ve got a lot of different places that I work with.

“All of the places that I represent, I’ve been to at least once or twice.”

Rossi will have a booth at the Allegheny Outdoor Sport Show Feb. 17-19 at the Monroeville Convention Center. He also can be reached through his website, joeswildsideadventures.com, or by calling 412-352-8703.

As for filming the shows, which took him to places such as Patagonia, Argentina, or British Columbia, Canada and plenty of places in between, Rossi will miss that part of the process.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I had a lot of fun.”

• The trout stocking trucks will start rolling down the highways locally in another month and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commissions has updated the stocking lists online at www.fishandboat.com.

For anglers with smartphones, an even easier way to view the schedules is through the FishBoatPA app, which is available for free from the Apple App and Google Play stores.

• McGuffey, Waynesburg and West Greene tied for the Section 1 rifle title after the Pioneers beat the Highlanders, 794-53X to 793-53X Thursday night.

That means all three advance to Tuesday’s WPIAL team championships at the Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Sportsmen’s Club.

The top two teams from each of the WPIAL’s three sections advance.

The tie wasn’t out of the norm this season.

Trinity and Woodland Hills tied for the Section 2 title, while Butler and Hempfield tied for the Section 3 championship.

The individual championships will be held at the same site Thursday.

Outdoors Editor Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.