Hi everyone. I want to begin with a wonderful day that happened on September 8 at the Menard County Sportsman Club. I was contacted by my good friend, Jim Lyons, and asked to come and be a part of him reaching his 100,000 Singles milestone. How could I say no? I drove up there and found out that his grandson would be shooting his first 100 Singles targets on the same squad. Talk about the circle of life! I am happy to report that Jim shot at and broke his 100,000 target, which was followed by an ovation from everybody who was at the club. To be honest, Jim was happier that his grandson shot with him than reaching the milestone. Days like this make trapshooting so special.
On September 14 and 15 the Northern Zone trap shoot was held at Downers Grove Gun Club in Morris, Illinois. The weather, people and scores were great. The winners are as follows, the Singles were won by Rodney Johnson In-Zone and by Kevin Wunder Out-of-Zone. Doubles were won by Chase Horton In-Zone and Mike Ruebhausen Out-of-Zone. Handicap was won by Danny Fite In-Zone and Rylan Porter Out-of-Zone. Finally, HOA was won by Kent Kruse In-Zone and Mike Ruebhausen Out-of-Zone.
I want to tell you about a new club that will be throwing registered targets. I recently certified the Alton-Wood River Sportsman Club. It is a full-service facility. It has a nice club house, a great banquet hall and 4 nice trap fields. The man running the show is Andy Hruby and he can be reached at 618-409-1844. Andy's plan is to start out with Big 50's and gradually work up to full 100 bird events. If you find yourself around Godfrey, Illinois, check the place out. I think you will like it.
Finally, I have several milestones that Illinois shooters have reached. At 25,000 targets, Jeremiah Schultz, Judson Mann and Roger Procter have reached it in Singles. Dan Gauwitz and Tim Lewis have reached it in Handicap. Randy Condray has shot 50,000 Doubles and Donald Gillmore has shot 100,000 Combined targets. Well done everyone.
Shoot well and support your local clubs.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
Hi everyone. I want to begin with some milestones that Illinois shooters have reached. At the 25,000 plateau, Kevin Morrison reached it in Handicap; Chris Deterding in Doubles and Tim Lewis in Singles. At the 50,000 plateau, Mark Johnson reached it in Handicap; Dan Staker and David Campbell reached it in Doubles. Finally, Jim Lyons reached the 100,000 Singles milestone.
The Grand was grand as it always is, plenty of things to buy, great people to meet and visit with and lots of great shooting. There were no big wins from Illinois shooters, but all sorts of place winners in the classes, yardage groups and categories. See Trap and Field's coverage of the events for full details. We did have an Illinois shooter make a notable accomplishment in his shooting career. Wyatt Williams completed his Grand Slam at the Grand after breaking 100 straight from the 27-yard line. Wyatt is a quiet, likable young man who goes about his business of breaking great scores. He was embarrassed when we were all congratulating him after he was done shooting. Well done, Wyatt. You have earned some praise and recognition.
While I am on the subject of Grand Slams, I want to let everyone know that this is the 26th Grand Slam shot in Illinois history. This number accounts for 5% of all the slams ever shot. This number might not seem all that impressive until you think about all the states, provinces and foreign countries that make up the ATA membership. I have said all along that shooting in Illinois is second to none. This is just another example of that fact.
In a couple of weeks, I will be figuring the All-State team. I always enjoy doing this. You get to see the old reliables show their prowess again. Every year you also see new faces bubble up to take their place with the big boys.
Shoot well and support your local clubs.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
Hi, everyone. I want to start out with some milestones Illinois shooters have reached. Janice Rigler has shot 75,000 Singles. Robert Hall and Jim Covert have reached 100,000 targets -- Robert in Handicap and Jim in combined targets.
Illinois shooters have been doing some great shooting all over the Midwest this summer. I am going to report on winners in the championship targets at state shoots. For more information read the shoot reports of the different states in Trap and Field magazine.
At the Arkansas State Shoot, Mason Bartlow won the HAA and the Junior HOA. Brian Hezel won the Veteran HAA and the HOA.
At the Minnesota State Shoot, Dave Dressler won the Veteran Doubles Championship. Denise Dressler was the Lady 2 Handicap Champion. Richard Drennen was the HAA Class B Champion and Mike Westjohn won the HOA Senior Veteran Championship.
At the Nebraska State Shoot, Alex Paul won the 19-20 yardage group in the Handicap Championship and Jakeb Paul won the A Class HAA.
At the Kentucky State Shoot, James Martin was the Singles Class B Champion and Kolton Tedrick won Junior Gold HAA.
At the Michigan State Shoot, Ian Lawrence had himself a week. He was the Doubles, Handicap and HAA Champion. He also won the Junior Gold category in Singles and HOA. Steve Margherio won the Junior Gold category in Handicap and HAA. Finally, Mike Dennis was the Veteran Singles Champion.
At the Wisconsin State Shoot in the Doubles Championship, Lawrence Gillum won D Class, Janice Rigler won Lady 2 and Brian Hezel won Veteran. In Singles, Mike Hathaway won Veteran. In Handicap Ian Lawrence won junior gold and Pat Jarnagin won veteran. In HAA, Ian Lawrence won Junior Gold and Mike Westjohn won Senior Veteran. In HOA, Ian Lawrence won Junior Gold.
At the Iowa State Shoot, in the Doubles Championship, Alex Miller won the AA Class and Carter White won D Class. Janice Rigler won Lady 2, Ian Lawrence won Junior Gold and Mike Hathaway won Veteran. In Singles, Frank Payne won Senior Veteran. In Handicap, Carson Sievers won Sub Junior, Carter White won Junior, and Mike Hathaway won Veteran. Ian Lawrence won HOA and Mike Hathaway won Veteran HAA.
At the Indiana State Shoot, Mike Dennis won the Singles Veteran Championship. In Doubles, Wyatt Willams won Junior Gold, Frank Haynes won Veteran, and Mike Westjohn won Senior Veteran. In Handicap, Lauren Dunn won Lady 1 and Mike Westjohn won Senior Veteran. In HAA, Frank Haynes won Veteran and Mike Westjohn won Senior Veteran. In HOA, Wyatt Willams won Junior Gold, Frank Haynes won Veteran, and Mike Westjohn won Senior Veteran.
I have some last-minute milestones. Jack Reeves and Darrell Ostertag have shot 25,000 Doubles and Jack Anderson has shot 100,000 combined targets.
Shoot well and support your local club.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
Hi everyone. I want to start off by talking about several milestones that have been reached by our shooters. Kim Schaefer and Roger Proctor have shot 25,000 Handicap targets. Michael Gill has shot 75,000 and Mike Dennis has shot 100,000 Handicap targets. Gary Crowe has shot 50,000 Singles and Larry White has shot 100,000 of them.
Illinois shooters have shot extremely well at the early shoots across the Midwest. Some highlights are: Frank Haynes won the out of state Singles Championship at Missouri and Steve Margherio won the Doubles. I have a hard time getting information off of the ATA website so I can't tell you winners. I can tell you that Ian Lawrence, Garrett Helms, Mike Dennis and Frank Payne posted some consistent, really good scores at the US Open. At Kansas, Mike Dennis won the Vet HAA and Frank Payne won the Senior Vet HAA.
Now for the Illinois AIM shoot. The shoot was over the weekend of June 8-9 and was a huge success. We had about a 150 more kids than we have ever had before. Needless to say, the place was humming. After the dust settled the winners were, Singles: Brady Cox, Doubles: Jacob Fournie, Handicap: Parker Fleming and HAA: Dausan Hemker. Great shooting guys.
The Illinois State Shoot ran from June 11 to June 16 and was another big success. Our numbers were way up, and we were comfortably a comp 5 shoot. The weather was fantastic and great scores kept popping up like dandelions. When the smoke cleared, the winners were, Ron Wolf won the Singles, Landon Sievers won the Doubles and Wyatt Williams won the Handicap, HAA and HOA. On behalf of the Mohrs, the Board of Directors and myself, we want to thank everyone who was there for making this shoot so great.
Shoot well and support your local clubs.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
Hi everyone. I have some milestones to report. Steve Carver has shot 25,000 Singles and Steve Dinkleman has shot 25,000 Handicap targets. Brenda Dennis has shot 50,000 Singles targets. Finally, Kenny Jones has shot 75,000 Singles. Congratulations to all of you.
The Illinois Central Zone shoot was held over Mother's Day weekend, May 11 & 12, at Peoria Skeet & Trap Club. It was a shoot for the young and old. In-zone, perennial, Senior Vet, all-American, Mike Westjohn showed why he is an all-American because he won the Singles, Doubles and HAA. Madison Franklin won the In-zone Handicap. Out-of-Zone was dominated by the Siever boys. They pulled a Julius Caesar, they came, they saw, and they conquered. Landon won the Singles and Carson won the Doubles, Handicap and HAA. Nice shooting guys and girls.
While I am on the subject, the Peoria Skeet & Trap Club is a great place to shoot. It has 10 combination trap and skeet fields, a nice club house and a bunch of friendly people to shoot with.
Shoot well and support your local clubs.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate