Sharp-shooting students at Glyn School have successfully defended their title after being crowned National Schools’ Pistol Champions for the second year running.

Emma O’Neil, Kieran Gall and James Miller represented the comprehensive school after qualifying in the South England Regional Tournament.

The team lined-up against some of the top pentathlete and shooting schools in Great Britain - including independent fee-paying schools Millfield and Durham.

More than 500 competitors from 280 different schools across the country competed over the last few month, culminating at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium for the Final event on January 17, where Glyn’s team were victorious.

The team competition needed all three members to score well, as they all counted. Emma shot a personal best 175 out of 200; Kieran also shot a personal best of 154 and James shot 181 to qualify in first place for the Individual Championship Final.

With a team performance of 510, Glyn school was 60 points clear of the nearest competitor and were awarded the Gold team medal and crowned as National Team Champions.

But there was little time to celebrate as both Emma and James had to steel themselves for the individual finals as the top pistol shooters in the country went head-to-head. Emma took eighth spot, impressive as she is a rifle specialist, and James was defending last year’s title. He set a new schools record score of 229.4 and took the top spot to be crowned British School Senior Champion.

Emma shoots in the GB Junior Rifle Squad, Kieran is number one in the country under-21 Target Sprint, Run and Shoot and James is ranked number 1 in the under-21 GB pistol team.

James and Kieran will represent Great Britain in the World Junior Championships being held in Germany in June.