CHICAGO, IL — A 12-year-old girl from Presque Isle finished third in her 12-person age division at the Elks National Hoop Shoot foul shooting competition on Saturday.
Faith Sjoberg, a seventh-grader at Presque Isle Middle School, went 23 for 25 in the and beat Jordyn Stokes of Iowa in a tiebreaker for third place by hitting all 15 of the extra shots. First place went to Sophie Phillips of New York, who won a tiebreaker over Karli Taylor of Idaho. They both were 24 for 25.
The competition was held at DePaul University in Chicago.
It was the second consecutive year Sjoberg, representing Presque Isle Elks Lodge 1954, has made the trip to the nationals in Chicago. Last year, she placed fifth in the ages 10-11 division.
To qualify for this year’s finals, Sjoberg won the March 25 New England shootoff by sinking 24 of 25 attempts, which was two better than runner-up Bella Sgroi of Woburn, Massachusetts. Sjoberg was the highest scoring girl among the three age divisions, earning her the Walter Kettelle Award.
Over the past four months, Sjoberg has advanced through five levels of competition. In addition to the New Englands, she has won at the school, lodge, district and state levels.
She is the daughter of Sue and Kevin Sjoberg of Presque Isle.
