Hi, everyone. There has been a lot of good shooting going on in Illinois so let's get to it. At the AIM National Shoot, Illinois stepped up big time. Carlinville Clay Busters won both the pre-sub and junior team titles. Calhoun Crush won the sub-junior team title. Landon Sievers was the Junior Singles Champion. Steve Margherio won the Doubles championship and Carson Sievers was the Pre-Sub Champion. In the Handicap championship, Lucas Smith was the Sub-Junior Champion and Hunter Hediger was the high Junior. Wow, all this good shooting is going to keep me on my toes!
We also have several shooters reaching milestones. Scotty Scobbie has shot both 25,000 Singles and Handicap targets. Dan Staker and Janice Rigler have shot 50,000 Handicap targets. Ken Rigler has shot 75,000 Handicap. Last, but not least, Chase Horton has shot 100,000 combined targets. Chase having this many targets, at his age, is amazing. I am very jealous!
The Illinois Northern Zone shoot was at Downers Grove Gun Club on September 11 and 12. Downers suffered from the new normal of trap shooting in not being able to find enough help. On behalf of them, I want to thank all the shooters who stepped up to score and load machines. You were the heroes of the shoot! I'm afraid this will continue for awhile so I want to encourage all shooters to help at shoots any way they can. The winners were:
In Zone Out of Zone
Singles Leland Hassler Dave Dressler
Doubles Harvey Schultz Mike Westjohn
Handicap Jace Shaw Richard Drennen
HOA Chase Horton Dave Dressler
Good shooting everyone! This was Leland's first 200 straight in Singles at a registered shoot. Leland is such a good shooter that when he told me this, I was amazed. Way to go Leland, you deserved this!
I will post the All State Team in next month's column. Shoot well and stay healthy!
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
I am writing this about a week after the Grand. I want to thank some people. First, a big thank you to the staff of the ATA and the Sparta complex. Despite weather, Covid and any other problem, they kept the shoot running smoothly. All the shooters really appreciated your hard work. I also want to give a HUGE thank you to the trap help. Because of the labor shortage, they ended up both scoring and loading the machines. We don't give these people enough credit and they did a wonderful job in tough conditions. As for the shoot itself, Illinois shooters did not have any big wins, but we are sprinkled all through the categories, classes and yardage groups. Read the shoot reports of the shoot and see how we were a big part of all the events.
You can tell we are heavily into the shooting season by the number of Illinois shooters who have reached milestones. We have 22 this month. They are: Thomas Fester; Reaching 25,000 Singles - Terry Morris; Jeffrey Brown and Tal Parmenter. Reaching 50,000 Singles - Bruce Bennett and David Campbell. Reaching 75,000 Singles - Brian Cox and Lauren Dunn. Reaching 100,000 Singles - Gary Miner. Reaching 25,000 Handicap - Raymond Smith; William Smith; Jimmy Juban; Ronald Wolf and Dennis Eggembyer. Reaching 50,000 Handicap - Robert Grieves; Larry Perkins; Jim Olin and Randy Condray. Reaching 75,000 Handicap - Mike Dennis. Reaching 50,000 Doubles - Brian Cox and John Kravanek. Reaching 100,000 Combined - Steve Brokaw and John Upcraft. Wow, what a list! Good job each and every one of you.
Please consider donating to the Illinois Hall of Fame. Good luck in the coming shooting season.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
Hi, everyone. By the time you read this the shooting season will be over. I hope everyone has had a very productive season and achieved all of their goals. As I have read shoot reports, Illinois shooters have won their share of trophies all over the Midwest. There are so many I can't list them all, so please look at the shoot reports to see how we have been doing. I do want to give a shout out to Illinois lower class and short yardage shooters. We tend to ignore them and only talk about champions. The average shooter works just as hard and is as proud of their trophies. Good job all Illinois shooters on your wins this year.
We have many Illinois shooters reaching milestones this month. Mark Johnson and Chris Deterding have shot 25,000 singles. James Ward and Tim Arndt have shot 25,000 handicap targets. Dale Miller, Chase Horton and Ron Wolf have shot 25,000 doubles targets. Jim Olin, Dennis Baker and Raymond Plummer have shot 50,000 singles. Finally, David Peace has shot 100,000 combined targets. Way to go everyone! Its awesome what you have accomplished.
Due to the incredible generosity of Illinois shooters, we are making great progress towards raising money to build a new Hall of Fame. It amazes me how our shooters will step up when their is a need. We still have a ways to go, so please consider buying a brick on our web page, or just giving a donation, to make the Hall a reality.
Good luck on the new shooting season!
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
Hi, everyone. By the time you read this the shooting season will be over. I hope everyone has had a very productive season and achieved all of their goals. As I have read shoot reports, Illinois shooters have won their share of trophies all over the Midwest. There are so many I can't list them all, so please look at the shoot reports to see how we have been doing. I do want to give a shout out to Illinois lower class and short yardage shooters. We tend to ignore them and only talk about champions. The average shooter works just as hard and is as proud of their trophies. Good job all Illinois shooters on your wins this year.
We have many Illinois shooters reaching milestones this month. Mark Johnson and Chris Deterding have shot 25,000 singles. James Ward and Tim Arndt have shot 25,000 handicap targets. Dale Miller, Chase Horton and Ron Wolf have shot 25,000 doubles targets. Jim Olin, Dennis Baker and Raymond Plummer have shot 50,000 singles. Finally, David Peace has shot 100,000 combined targets. Way to go everyone! Its awesome what you have accomplished.
Due to the incredible generosity of Illinois shooters, we are making great progress towards raising money to build a new Hall of Fame. It amazes me how our shooters will step up when their is a need. We still have a ways to go, so please consider buying a brick on our web page, or just giving a donation, to make the Hall a reality.
Good luck on the new shooting season!
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
Boy, has shooting exploded across the Midwest and Illinois over the past month. I am going to try to cover the highlights but I am sure I will miss someone. If I do, please contact me and I will mention you in future columns. First, read the shoot reports of other State shoots because Illinois shooters have been doing well. The week before the Illinois State Shoot, the US Open took place at Sparta and a couple of notable things happened. Tim Lewis shot his first 100 straight and Mike Jordan broke 200 straight in the Singles Championship. Good shooting both of you. I wanted to mention Mike because he is a hero of mine and he never ceases to amaze me over his shooting ability through the years. It is a treat to watch him.
Now I want to talk about the Illinois State Shoot. It went from warm to hot and the wind blew from every direction except up or down. Through it all great scores were shot and a good time was had by all. First of all, I want to thank the Mohr family and The Illinois Board of Directors for putting on a great shoot. The shoot went well and great scores popped up like mushrooms. AIM was shot first and we had over 300 shooters toe the line. There was a lot of impressive shooting and it is obvious to me our future is in good hands. The winners were: Steve Margherio won both the Singles and Doubles and Wyatt Sibley won the Handicap. I am looking forward to watching these guys in the years ahead.
Now I want to talk about the regular shoot. Megan Byrns and Zac Painter shot their first 100 straights in Singles and Logan Applegate shot his first 100 in Doubles. Ryan Lovelace, Ty Leach and Drake Reynolds all reached the 27 yard line for the first time. All of these shooters are kids! Wow, I am in awe of our younger shooters. The winners of the Championship events are as follows: Mike Hathaway won the Singles, Terron Williams won the Doubles, Gavin Rynders won the Handicap and Landon Sievers won the HOA and HAA. I am really happy for Mike because he finally broke through and won a big one.
You can tell that shooting is back on in Illinois by the number of shooters that have reached milestones this past month. I'll do Singles first; Gallen Tully, James Martin, William Nash and Jack Vick all have shot 25,000, Mark Elliott has shot 50,000, Mike Miller has shot 75,000, Marvin Kuebler has shot 100,000 and Mike Westjohn has shot 200,000. Handicap next: Douglas Porter, Steve Carver and Ross Walch have shot 25,000, John White, Lynn Gibson and Mike Miller have shot 75,000 and Richard Haltek has shot 100,000. Lastly Doubles: David Peace has shot 25,000 and Danial Meinecke has shot 400,000! Wow, that's a lot of of shooting. Good job everyone. I also want to give a special mention to Mike Westjohn. I had the honor of presenting him with a pin and certificate at our annual meeting for his 500,000 combined targets. Mike, at our meeting, you said you were told to ride this horse for as long as you could. Let me tell you, this accomplishment shows you are one hell of a fine rider!
Finally, I want to invite any shooters who missed our Shoot this year to please come back. We missed you and would love to see you next year.
It's time for me to shoot so until next time, shoot well.
Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate