Student athletes from nine states converged on the World Shooting and Recreational Complex (WSRC) in Sparta, IL on April 4-6 for the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) and Scholastic Pistol Program (SPP) High School and College Midwest Regional Tournament. SCTP teams competed in skeet, trap, and sporting clays, while SPP squads vied for titles in rimfire and centerfire pistol.
In spite of a brutal Midwestern winter that delayed the start of clay target shooting for many teams, the SCTP regional shoot fielded 384 competitors from Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Iowa, Indiana, and Kansas, representing an 82% increase in participation over last year. Sporting clays had 91 participants, skeet had 97, and trap had the largest field at 346, for a total of 534 registrations in this growing event.
Purdue University Trap & Skeet Club (IN) won the Collegiate High Over All (HOA) clay target title. Among high school teams, the Waterloo Lead Heads (IL) took home the Gold, while Pinckneyville High School (IL) took Silver and the Kansas City Crushers (KS) earned the Bronze.
In skeet competition, Purdue won the Collegiate division, Waterloo Lead Heads took Varsity, St. Charles Sportsman’s Club Shot Crew (IL) won Junior Varsity, and Henry Co. No Fly Zone (TN) placed first in Intermediate.
Purdue also won their division in sporting clays, along with Kansas City Crushers (KS) in Varsity, Alton Wood River Sportsman’s Club (IL) in Junior Varsity, and Pinckneyville High School Shooting Sports (IL) in Intermediate.
University of Wisconsin Platteville earned top collegiate honors in trap, with Gateway Claybusters (MO) taking the Varsity title, St. Charles Sportsman’s Shot Crew winning Junior Varsity, and Team Henges (MO) capturing the Intermediate division.
See full results on our website in the Scores section. Scroll down to 2014 Regional Shoot.
“A total of 53,600 competition targets were fired upon by these athletes, with not one single miscue,” cites Tom Wondrash, SCTP National Program Director.
In SPP’s second regional tournament of the year, the Heartland was well represented with squads from Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. In the Senior Centerfire division, the Arnold Red Squad (MO) placed first, with the Southern Illinois Lead Slingers (IL) coming in second. The Ozaukee Squad 1 (WI) took third. The Straight Shooters (MI) took first in the Senior Rimfire division, and the McKenzie Squad 3 (TN) finished second.
The Ozaukee Squad 2 took Gold in the Junior Centerfire Division, with Ozaukee Squad 3 and Wilmot Squad 3 (WI) taking second and third, respectively. In Junior Rimfire, Arnold White Squad won first place honors, with Arnold Blue Squad earning second and McKenzie Squad 1 taking third.
In the College Division, the University of Kentucky won championships in both Centerfire and Rimfire Divisions.
Two University of Kentucky shooters also took Individual High Over All (HOA) honors. Grant Heward won the Rimfire Division, and Ryan Bradley earned top honors in Centerfire. High Lady shooters were Sarah Webster (Arnold) in Centerfire and fellow Arnold shooter, Katie Lioda, in Rimfire.
“While the Midwest had a rough winter and many of the SPP athletes haven’t had much of a chance to shoot, they came ready to ping some steel. We saw some great scores,” said Scott Moore, SPP National Program Director. “I can’t wait to see what they will do at Nationals this year!”
Click here to see full results.
The weekend was just a taste of what is to come in Sparta, as many of the teams will return, along with dozens of others, for the National Championships being held July 14-19, 2014, at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex.
