Faith Sjoberg, the 11-year-old daughter of Kevin and Susan Sjoberg of Presque Isle, took fifth place in her division at the Elks’ National Hoop Shoot Competition held in Chicago, Ill. on Saturday, April 16, 2016.
The Presque Isle Middle School sixth-grader was competing against 11 other girls, ages 10 and 11, each of whom had won a competition for a large region of the United States.
As the result of a random drawing, Sjoberg had been assigned to shoot 11th in the 12-person competition in her division. In the first round, each competitor can shoot up to five practice shots before attempting 10 shots for scoring. She sunk 9 of 10 shots in the first round, missing only her sixth shot. In the second round, competitors shoot 15 shots for scoring. The long wait for those drawn to shoot earlier had a noticeable impact upon almost all of the later-shooting competitors. Despite the long cool-down, however, Sjoberg was able to sink 11 of her final 15 shots, missing only her first, eighth, 10th and 12th attempts to finish with a score of 20 out of 25 attempts.
In order to reach the Elks’ National Hoop Shoot Competition, she had won five consecutive competitions in her division — the school championship at the Presque Isle Middle School, the Presque Isle Elks Lodge championship held at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, the Northern District Championship held at Bangor High School, the State of Maine Championship held at Bangor and the Elks’ New England Regional Hoop Shoot Championship in South Portland.
According to Maine State Hoop Shoot Director George Jones, during the Friday practice session, Sjoberg had during one stretch connected on 53 consecutive foul shots.
“Because Faith is only 11 years old, she will be eligible to compete in the Hoop Shoot Competition for two more years,” Jones said.
In commenting upon Sjoberg’s success in the Elks’ Hoop Shoot Competition, Marion Donahue, Exalted Ruler of Presque Isle Elks, Lodge 1954, said, “Faith is without question a true champion. She finished fifth in the nation in a competition in which hundreds of thousands of girls her age had competed. We are all so proud of Faith.”
