Report on National Trapshooting Championships

[Guest David Waldrip]

All:

Thanks to Bryan Brasher, Outdoors Editor of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the Field Notes section today is dedicated to the National Trapshooting Championships.

Many of these teams received grant funding through the NRA Foundation and the efforts of local Friends of NRA Committees.

A job well done to all the shooters!!!

David Waldrip

Memphis Friends of NRA Committee Member

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http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/outdoors/article/0,1426,MCA_470_5669988,00.html

August 12, 2007

HIGH FIVES

A team composed of mostly Arlington students won the junior varsity national championship last week at the National Trapshooting Championships at the World Shooting & Recreational Complex in Sparta, Ill.

The Arlington Trappers won the Junior Varsity Division championship (for grades 9-12) by a single target with a combined score of 965. Team members were Cody Cochran of Arlington, Brandon Barker of Arlington, Taylor Garrison of Bartlett, Curtis Robinson of Arlington, and Keaton Irving of Arlington.

The event was part of the National Shooting Sports Foundation's Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP).

"Through the states, regionals and now nationals, this team has continued to improve," said Arlington coach Kermit Simons. "I'm just really proud of them. I brought three squads here and all of them improved their scores. This is a great day for Tennessee SCTP."

Tennessee had two other winning teams, including a first-place finish in the Rookie Division. Tennessee sent 54 teams to the competition with more than 300 shooters.

The Chester County Smokin' Eagles won the Rookie Division competition by 47 targets, claiming their second straight national title. Dalton Mitchell of Luray, Blake Carnell of Henderson, Cole Lawrence, Brandon Hughes of Reagan and Jake Williams of Beech Bluff combined for a score of 919.

"For the past two days, they've been pretty nervous because they really wanted to repeat," said Chester County coach Janice Cooper of Henderson, Tenn. "It's just awesome. I've got three kids back from last year and two new ones, and all of them just stepped up. They all will move up to intermediate division next year."

In addition to the team championships, Ethan Campbell of Middle Tennessee Christian in Murfreesboro and Blake Triplet of Henry County each posted near-perfect scores of 199.

Complete results were as follows:

Varsity Division (Grades 9-12)

1. Missouri – Arnold Junior Trapshooters, 971 out of 1,000 targets (John Battles of Hillsboro, Nicholas Edwards of Fenton, Benjamin Hutchings of Labadie, Kyle Kopsie of Imperial, Jacob Wideman of Pevely).

2. Missouri – Kansas City Trap Association, 970 (Danny Robertson of Independence, Rachael Hopkins of Pattonsburg, Austin Hunt of Kansas City, Lee Taylor of Indepedence, Brandon Alexander of Platte City).

3. Nevada – Silver State Claybreakers, 968 (Austin Tischler of Sparks, Derek Menezes of Reno, Evan Martin of Reno, Evan Fine of Reno, Garrett Schmidt of Reno).

Junior Varsity Division (Grades 9-12)

1. Tennessee – Arlington Trappers, 965 (Cody Cochran of Arlington, Brandon Barker of Arlington, Taylor Garrison of Bartlett, Curtis Robinson of Arlington, Keaton Irving of Arlington).

2. Alabama – Waterfall Valley Claybusters, 964 (Stephen Mitchell of Russellville, Kollin Hester of Tuscumbia, Jacob Gist of Russellville, Alex Pounders of Russellville, Blake Reed of Spruce Pine).

3. Nebraska – Oak Creek 4-H Seniors, 961 (Tanner Wemhoff of David City, Dillon Petrzilka of Brainard, Tanya Prothman of David City, Taylor Cieslik of Weston, Austin Zeilinger of Rising City).

Intermediate Division (Grades 6-8)

1. Ohio – The Sportsman's Club Clay Crushers, 953 (Nathan Waldock of Attica, Matthew Ritz of Attica, Alisha Lutz of Attica, Joshua Reed of Willard, Clay Mesnard of Bloomville).

2. Missouri – Arnold Junior Shooters, 947 (William Fisher of Arnold, Cody Morton of Hillsboro, Joshua Robert of House Springs, Peter Fritz of St Louis, Michael Kurtzeborn Jr. of St Louis).

3. Missouri – Tina Avalon, 945 (Garrett Ray of Tina, Wesley Johnson of Chillicothe, Zachary Huffmon of Tina, Lee Rucker of Tina, Dale Weidner of Tina).

Rookie Division (Grades 5 and under)

1. Tennessee – Chester County Smokin' Eagles, 919 (Dalton Mitchell of Luray, Blake Carnell of Henderson, Cole Lawrence, Brandon Hughes of Reagan, Jake Williams of Beech Bluff).

2. Ohio – The Sportsman's Club Clay Crushers, 872 (Aaron Walter of Bloomville, Justin Miller of Covington, Bryan Dearth of Clyde, Alex Scheiber of Attica, Clay McCarthy of Tiro).

3. Tennessee – Hoodlum Alley Claybusters, 818 (Vincent Caldwell of Shelbyville, James Haithcote of Unionville, Chase Smith of Shelbyville, Matthew Townes of Shelbyville, James Anthony of Shelbyville).

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