SPARTA, Ill.—Young trap shooters from across Illinois earned state titles—with many qualifying to represent Illinois at upcoming national championships—at the recent Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) Illinois Trap State Championship.
The trap competition, held June 28 at World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta, featured some of Illinois’ top young shooters in five divisions: varsity, junior varsity, intermediate advanced, intermediate entry and rookie.
SCTP, for youths in grades 12 and under, is a program of the National Shooting Sports Foundation managed in partnership with the national governing bodies for shooting sports: USA Shooting, Amateur Trapshooting Association, National Skeet Shooting Association and National Sporting Clays Association.
With remarkable growth over the past eight years, the program is considered “the Little League of shooting sports.” Some 8,000 to 9,000 students from over 45 states are expected to compete this year.
Illinois teams participating in the state title shoot qualified for the SCTP National Championships July 31-Aug. 5 at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta, Ill.
The best of these young shooters could be selected to attend an Olympic development camp in Colorado Springs, and some will go on to compete at the collegiate level.
For more information, visit www.nssf.org/sctp.
RESULTS
SCTP Illinois Trap State Championship (held June 28, World Shooting and Recreational Complex, Sparta, Ill.)
Varsity Division (grades 9-12)
1st Place—Golden Eagle, 919 out of 1,000 targets (Tim Varble of Jerseyville, Devin Schumann of Kampsville, Trenton Bick of Batchtown, Tyler Squier of Hamburg, Geoff Schulte of Brussels).
2nd Place—Quincy Quivering Clays, 918 (Zachary Drebes of Quincy, Brandon Hoebing of Quincy, Nick Hoebing of Quincy, Dalton Schaller of Quincy, Jesse Wegs of Quincy).
3rd Place—Okawville Clay Crushers, 898 (Justin Eldridge of Venedy, David Greaney of Oakdale, Peter Gutjahr of Coulterville, Kody Kurtz of Oakdale, Daniel Wilke of Okawville).
Junior Varsity Division (grades 9-12)
1st Place—Quincy Quivery Clays, 871 out of 1,000 targets (Gavin Buss of Quincy, Corbin Riffey of Baylis, Alex Williams of Coatsburg, Darin Dieterle of Camp Point, David Arnold of Quincy).
2nd Place—Alton Wood River Sportsmen’s Club, 844 (Jacob Furl of Jerseyville, Jake Strohbeck of Alton, Adam Phelps of Cottage Hills, Devin Smith of Godfrey, Justin Greco of East Alton).
3rd Place—Not awarded.
Intermediate Advanced Division (grades 6-8)
1st Place—Chip & Crack, 891 out of 1,000 targets (Jeremy Jiskra of Coal City, Noah Dietchweiler of Watseka, Douglas Easter of Clifton, Tony Fortino of Kankakee, Jacob Aichele).
2nd Place—Carlinville Clay Busters, 879 (Brandon Hammann of Carlinville, Andrew Schawab of Carlinville, Matt Evans of Thayer, Alex Bouldin of Girard, Kaleb Pitchford of Virden).
3rd Place—Alton Wood River Sportsmen’s Club, 869 (Andrew Simpson of Piasa, Larry West of Alton, Chance Ketchum of Brighton, Dalton Baecht of Grafton, Justin Phillips of Jerseyville).
Intermediate Entry Division (grades 6-8)
1st Place—Golden Eagle, 821 out of 1,000 targets (Edward Stephens of Golden Eagle, Lucas Jenkins of Brussels, Charles Kinder of Brussels, Dakota Schulte of Brussels, Derrek Bean of Hardin).
2nd Place—Carroll County Long Spurs, 791 (Zachary Whitebread of Mt. Carroll, Jeffrey Casey of Thomson, Ty Harmston of Mt. Carroll, Wyatt Whitebread of Mt. Carroll, Hunter Binns of Stockton).
3rd Place—Not awarded.
Rookie Division (grades 5 and under)
1st Place—New Athens Sportsman’s Club, 200 out of 1,000 targets (Conner Lapointe of New Athens, Jordan Parker of New Athens Jake Hartwig of New Athens, Dylan Toedte of New Athens, Hollansworth Tj of Smithton).
2nd Place—Not awarded.
3rd Place—Not awarded.
