On Saturday, December 2^nd, 2023, the Rochester Elks #1393 and Dover Elks #184 conducted their annual local lodge Hoop Shoot Contest at the Rochester Rec Center Gymnasium. The contest got underway at 10:00 AM. The Rochester Lodge Event Chair was Jeff Rasmussen, and the Dover Event Chair was Maria Zopf. Both Lodges had a number of volunteers who worked the registration of contestants and acted as line judges, scorers, and ball retrievers. Southeast Hoop Shoot Director Scott Welch, PER, PDD, SVP and his wife Lynn were also at the event to provide technical support for the contest setup.

Rochester had the following contestants: Leo Cardinal, Braydon Beauvais, Colin Lapierre, Kingston Digilio Fowler, Caleb Plante, Keegan Tompson, and Joshua Abreu. In the 12-13 age category, Leo Cardinal was the first-place winner with Caleb Plante finishing second. In the 10-11 age category, Keegan Tompson won first place, with Colin Lapierre finishing second and Joshua Abreu placing third. In the 8-9 age category, Braydon Beauvais won first place with Kingston Digilio Fowler placing second.

Dover had the following contestants: Lorenzo Oliva, Isiah Butler, Cole Marshall, and James Mitsiaris. Lorenzo Oliva was the 8-9 age category winner, Isiah Butler won the 10-11 age category and Cole Marshall was the winner in the 12-13 age category, with James Mitsiaris finishing second.

First-place winners will move on to the District Contest to be held at the Spaulding High School gymnasium on Saturday, January 6^th, 2024. District winners will move on to the State Contest and then the Regional Contest. Regional winners will go to Chicago, Illinois in April to compete for the National title in their age groups. All travel expenses are picked up by the Elks organization. The Elks Hoop Shoot contest is over 50 years old and has involved millions of children nationwide over that span of time.

For more information about the Elks and the Hoop Shoot Program, visit www.elks.org

Picture caption: Participants in the Local Rochester / Dover Hoop Shoot contest pose for a group picture after the conclusion of the event. Also pictured are contest chairs Jeff Rasmussen (Esteemed Loyal Knight) from Rochester (1^st person left side, second row); Maria Zopf (Esteemed Loyal Knight), second row, 7^th person, right-hand side) from Dover; Exalted Ruler Linda Goodreau (extreme right next to Maria Zopf) from Dover and Exalted Ruler Peter Ducharme (standing next to Linda Goodreau) from Rochester.