The Covington Elks Lodge 1806 is fortunate enough to hold the county, district and state championships of the 2013 Hoop Shoot, and three Newton County elementary students are fortunate enough to compete in all three events.
Christian Davies, of Fairview Elementary, won first place in the boys’ 10-11 division at Newton High Saturday. The other first-place district champion was Shay Aiken, of East Newton Elementary, in the 8-9 girls’ age group.
Both Davies and Aiken will move on to Saturday’s state hoop shoot.

All three events will be held at the NHS gym, concluding with this Saturday’s state competition, bringing in district champions from each of the state’s Elks competition. Saturday’s Hoop Shoot will begin at 10 a.m., followed by a luncheon at the Covington Elks Lodge 1806 on Crowell Road.

Ananda Charisse, of Fairview Elementary finished in second place in the girls’ 10-11 age group, but will not move on to the state level.

Contestants from the Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest districts will combine to provide one winner in each age group to go on to the regional competition to be held in Valdosta.

From there, a winner from each age group will move on to the national competition, which will be in Springfield, Mass.
The Hoop Shoot national champions will get their names inscribed in the Basketball Hall of Fame.