Butler's varsity rifle team won its firs WPIAL championship since 1993 Tuesday with a score of 800-67x. Team members include, from left, first row, Abbie McCandless, Bailey Beers, captain Andrew Arbanas, co-captain Riley Rodgers, Hannah Beacom and manager Caitlin Rozell; second row,, coach Matt Hutchinson, Kayla Kopelic, Aidan Ketterer, head coach Eric Beveridge, Alec Stamm, Eli Spinneweber, Cody Stroup and coach Matt Nocera.

MT. LEBANON — Get in, then win.

That mantra worked out Tuesday for the Butler varsity rifle team, which won its first WPIAL championship since 1993 at the Mt. Lebanon/Dormont Sportsman Club.

“This was totally unexpected, a complete surprise,” Butler coach Eric Beveridge said. “We had to win a wild-card match just to get here.”

The Golden Tornado were 6-4 through the first 10 weeks of the season. Butler got past Woodland Hills and McGuffey in the wild-card playoff match last Thursday to qualify for Tuesday's championships.

Butler shot an 800-67x as a team for the title.

“This was the best we've shot all year, hands down,” Beveridge said. “There is no doubt about that.”

Hannah Beacom, a sophomore, shot a perfect score of 100-10x to lead the Tornado. It was her first perfect score of the season.

“I shot a perfect score in a regular season match last year,” Beacom said. “I was a little nervous going into today, but you just focus and shoot, just like in any other match.”

Senior captain Andrew Arbanas, along with juniors Aidan Ketterer and Cody Stroup, shot 100-9x for Butler.

“This was amazing,” Arbanas said. “We were hoping to get this, but you never know. It all just came together for us.

“You never know what other teams are shooting during the competition. I think that's good because you know you have to concentrate and try to get every point you can.”

Riley Rodgers is a senior co-captain on the Butler squad.

“We weren't given much of a chance coming in here, but we've been gaining confidence as the season's gone on,” Rodgers said. “This will really serve as a confidence builder for our team.

“Doing something this unexpected ... It's nice.”

Arbanas said having to win a wild-card match helped the Tornado.

“It gave us some momentum coming in here,” he said. “Once we qualified, it felt like we had nothing to lose.”

Kayla Kopelic and Alec Stamm were other seniors who competed Tuesday for Butler.

There are 16 rifle teams in the WPIAL. Butler competes in the district's lone six-team section.

“We only finished third in the section,” Beveridge said. “I guess we hit our stride at the right time.”