PSSA held the 84th annual Pennsylvania State Open Skeet Championships at the beautiful Shenecoy Sportsmen 16-field facility in McConnellstown, Pennsylvania, on August 21-23. The weather was warm and humid with a bit of rain on Sunday afternoon. With 30 out-of-state shooters (from AZ, CA, DE, IN, MD, OH, VA and WV), 183 participants shot at least one gun Thank you so much for coming, folks! The shoot difficulty factor was 19.
Open HOA winners were Joe Vescovi, champion (398) from Pennsylvania; Sam Armstrong, runner-up (396) from Maryland; and Alessandro Vitale, third (396), Maryland. Pennsylvania HOA winners were Vescovi, champion; Chris Kline, runner-up; and Frank Smithmyer, third. Open HAA Champion and runner-up, respectively, were Vitale (495) and Armstrong (493); Vescovi (492) was third. Pennsylvania HAA honors went to Vescovi, champion; Kline, runner-up; and Nick Boerboon, third.
The 28-gauge Prelim started the festivities on Friday morning with 51 shooters participating. Steve Hildebrand was outright champion after he shot the lone 100 straight. This was Steve’s first 100 straight in the 28-gauge, and he said he was glad to finally get it done. Kenny Riddile and Tim Botwright, respectively, were runner-up and third. Clay Gormish, Alyssa Gormish, Allison Shaffer, Mark Eckert and Colby Eckert, respectively, took AA1 through D1.
There were 99 doubles shooters on Friday afternoon, and two 99s were the high scores. Boerboon emerged as open champion by winning a shoot-off of those 99s with Vitale, runner-up. Alyssa Gormish was open third. Alyssa and Josh Crofutt, respectively, were Pennsylvania runner-up and third. Pennsylvania class firsts went to Kline, Fran Kosmacki, Mike Rykacewski Jr., Mark Eckert, Brady Leyo and Jerry McCullough (AAA-D).
In the main event, there were seven 100 straights in the 12-gauge, seven in the 20, four in the 28 and three in the .410.
Pennsylvania champions, runners-up and thirds, respectively, were: Smithmyer, Kosmacki and Vescovi in the 12 (181 shooters, with Smithmyer Open Champion); Kline, Boerboon and Alyssa Gormish in the 20 (168 shooters, with Fred Schantz from Ohio, Open third); Smithmyer, Rykacewski Jr. and Vescovi in the 28 (165 shooters, with Smithmyer Open Champion); and Vescovi, Kline and Crofutt in the .410 (165 shooters, with Vitale, Armstrong and Vescovi, respectively, Open Champion, runner-up and third).
Class in-state first places were won by Kline, Adam Vollmer, Hildebrand, Gil Rodler Jr., Jack Harshbarger, Vance McLaughlin and Eric Sprenkle (12-gauge AAA-E); Clay Gormish, Crofutt, Hildebrand, Roy Holtz, Marcus Rosenstiel, Jr. and McLaughlin (20-gauge AAA-D); Brian Steinert, Ed Call, Ethan Call, John Davies and Joe Gans V (28-gauge AA-D); and Bryson Fox, Crofutt, Kline, Ethan Call, Carl Biddle and Rachel Sauers (.410 bore AAA-D).
Coryn Dietz from Maryland was Sub-Junior open HOA CH. Marcus Rosenstiel, Jr., Allison Shaffer and Colby Eckert, respectively, were open and state Junior HOA Champion, runner-up and third. Open Lady winners were Alyssa Gormish, champion (389), Hanna Goodard, runner-up from Virginia, and Missy Vescovi, third. Pennsylvania Lady HOA winners were Alyssa, champion; Missy, runner-up; and Rachel Sauer, third.
Saturday evening was busy, beginning with 12- and 20-gauge shoot-offs and a hat shoot.
Dylana Eroh shot her first 25 straight, and her hat was properly perforated; congratulations, Dylana! Vance McLaughlin shot his first 50 and 75 straights in the 12-gauge event, but he left early and temporarily saved his hat.
Pennsylvania’s top shooters for 2019 were recognized. Fran Kosmacki with a 0.975 average was the State’s Top Gun. All-State first and second teams were recognized, and each member received a nice wooden plaque. The first team included Mike Rykaczewski Jr., Josh Crofutt, Denny Lehman, Dan Felton and Clay Gormish; second team members included Kenny Riddile, Gary Nace, Debra Meade, Meghan Darrough and David Darrough.
All Juniors and Sub-Juniors (11 shot in the 12-gauge) had 50% of their entry fees paid by PSSA. Four boxes of shells for each event, except the Prelim, were also provided by PSSA.
The PSSA President’s Cup award for 2019 was presented to Denny Lehman in recognition of his ongoing support of skeet in Pennsylvania. Denny, again this year, spearheaded a drive to solicit added money for the 2020 State Shoot. Many thanks to Denny and to Murry Gerber and Elite Shotguns, the major sponsor of the Pennsylvania State Shoot, and all the other businesses and individuals that made the donations that resulted in over $11,000 in added money. The added money was capped so that gun champion, runner-up and third received $80, $70, and $60, respectively. All class first through fifth places received cash from added money (e.g., in the 12-gauge E1, E2, E3, E4, and E5 received $50, $45, $40, $35 and $30, respectively).
Reno Hassinger was named Pennsylvania’s 2019 Rookie of the Year.
Nathaniel Neuland from MD, in a field of 21 shooters, won the BCDE Challenge shoot-off. The top prize was a Henry rifle donated by Ed and Theresa Call (thank you so much, Ed and Theresa!). Class champions and runners-up were awarded shells, one flat and one-half flat, respectively.
The 5-man team handicap championship shoot-off (free to all shooters, based on 12-gauge averages) involved five teams. The winning team members were Sam Armstrong, Alessandro Vitale, Mike Wollard, Mark Saussure and Fran Kosmacki, and each received a beautiful belt buckle. This was an encore performance, as the same team took home the belt buckles last year.
Clair Krug (CK’s Catering) provided the delicious catered dinner for all, at no extra cost to the shooters and their guests, on Saturday night at the club. Thanks to everyone who donated to make this happen.
Kudos to Tami Daniel-Means and her hubby Al for handling registration, scorekeeping and posting; Bobby Wilkin who was Chief Referee and shoot-off announcer; the Generations Skeet Club team who handled medal preparation and distribution; and Mark Saussure, PSSA President who was pretty much everywhere, including being emcee at Saturday night’s recognition/award presentation event.
Special thanks to the following folks whose hard work was greatly appreciated: Barry and Lori Sheffield (Shenecoy managers), Rod Shyda (Lincoln Traps), Petersburg Volunteer Fire Company (handled the kitchen), Chuck Mattice, Bill States, Danny Moore, Rick Grimminger, Carl and Doris Confer, Bill Ozanich, Wade and Laura Schlusser, Dave, Tom and LeAnn Weaverling, Mark Wickersham, Bill and Mary Doutt, John Duhon, Mitch Heaster, Charlie Stambaugh, Doug Swoboda, Evan Simon, Bob Sechrist and Jim Flutka.
It is safe to say that Pennsylvania skeet shooting is a family affair. Nineteen mother/father/son/daughter pairings participated in this year’s State Shoot (23% of the 183 shooters). Eleven father/son, four father/daughter, two mother/father/son, one father/daughter/son, and one father/son/son were involved.
– Contributed by George Gleich
