Clay Target Nation

The official magazine of the National Skeet Shooting Association and the National Sporting Clays Association

Nebraska State Skeet Championships

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The 90th Nebraska State Skeet Championships were held at Koch Range in Omaha, Nebraska, in mid-August. The weather was perfect for shooting, which is unusual for August in Nebraska.

The temperatures were in the mid to upper 80s; fortunately for some, the scores were a little higher than the temperature. Although there were no 100 straights over the weekend, there were several 99s.

The doubles event was shot on Friday, with three 96s for the high. After the shoot-off, Kurt Mann came away with the win. Josh Peters took second and Rob Predmore earned third. Class winners were Chris Lutz (A, 94), Zach Hinze (B, 93), Ray Hansen (C, 89) and Kim Zenon (D, 84).

Saturday morning started off with the 20-gauge. Two young shooters tied with 99s. After the shoot-off, Zach Hinze took gun champ and Jacob Uphoff runner-up. Third place went to Rob Predmore with his lone 97. Winning the classes were Mark Portz (A, 96), Rick Hoffman (B, 95), Ron Fucinaro (C, 94) and Steve Schmiedeeskamp (D).

The .410 was shot Saturday afternoon, Jacob Uphoff winning the gun championship with a 96. Runner-up went to Rob Predmore (93) and third place to Zach Hinze (92). Class winners were Dave Meisinger (A, 92), Deric Meisinger (B, 92), Michael Day (C, 90) and Ray Hansen (D). Saturday ended with dinner catered from Casio’s, thanks to our largest sponsor, Mr. Ron Zych, owner of Zych Drywall located in Omaha.

Sunday was another beautiful day for Nebraska and started with the 28-gauge. Deric Meisinger shot the only 99 in that gauge to earn him gun champ. Four 97s came next and set up a brutal shoot-off, with Dave Meisinger coming away with runner-up and Zach Hinze third. Classes were won by Chris Lutz (A, 97), Ray Hansen (B, 96), Bill Buettgenbach (C, 93) and Thomas Peltz (D).

The last event of the tournament was the 12-gauge, and it was not lacking in excitement! There were two 99s and four 98s, with a lot of shoot-offs on the side. The two 99s shot off for gun champ and runner-up. Jacob Uphoff came away with the win, and Chris Lutz nailed runner-up. Zach Hinze took home third after the shoot-offs of 98s. Winning the classes were Kurt Mann (AA), Dave Meisinger (A), Mark Portz (B), Michael Day (C, 96), Bill Buettgenbach (D, 95) and Ashtian Nielsen (E, 83).

At the end of the day, Jacob Uphoff walked away with his first State Championship. Jacob shot a 390 and received the HOA buckle for the win. Congratulations to all the buckle and medal winners.

– Contributed by David Meisinger

New Jersey Skeet Championship

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The 2022 New Jersey Skeet Championship was held over the weekend of Friday, September 9 through Sunday, September 11. Joint Base-Range 14 once again hosted the event. The competition started with the Friday doubles event, and Jim Seiler broke a very strong 97 to take the championship. Class winners were Ben Galioto (A, 94), Mason Palidar (B, 95), Jay Taylor (C, 91), and South Carolina’s Bob Liptak (D).

On Saturday morning, the weather was perfect for our first gun, the .410 bore. Peconic River shooter Larry Bonavita shot a terrific 97 to win the Open .410 championship. Mike Cerce took AA1 with a 92, and Jim Seiler won A1 with his 96, which also earned Jim the .410 state title. Donna Fusco claimed B1 with a nice 94, and another New York shooter, Ralph Novotny, nailed down C1 with a 92. D1 honors went to Howie Mann.

On Saturday afternoon we shot the 20-gauge event, and a determined Ben Galioto was able to bear down and post a 100 straight to win the title. Mike Cerce posted a 97 to take AA1, and Mike Costello broke a 98 to win A1. Cliff Schafer iced B1 by putting together four solid rounds to break a 98, and Jay Taylor’s 92 won C1.

On Saturday evening, NJSSA provided shooters with an amazing BBQ dinner, beverages and dessert. This year’s dinner was a special event, as Ed Amaty and Ben Galioto were both inducted into the New Jersey Skeet Shooting Hall of Fame. Presentation plaques for both gentlemen will be on display on the New Jersey Hall of Fame board at Joint Base.

On a cloudy Sunday morning we shot the 28-gauge event. This year we will have to open up the records book and enter a new state champion’s name. Joe Madlinger broke his first 100 straight in the 28-gauge and won his first state title. Larry Bonavita won AA1 with a 97, Ben Galioto took A1 with a 98, and Cliff Schafer won B1 with a 95. Neil Alexander shot a solid 96 to take C1 and Howie Mann broke an 88 to reel in D1.

The last gun was the 12-gauge event, and Jim Seiler put an exclamation point on a solid weekend of shooting by breaking a very hard 100 to claim his third state title of the weekend! Larry Bonavita won AA1 with a 97, and Ben Galioto, who missed early, went into damage control mode and preserved a 99 to win A1. Paul Billings secured B1 with a very strong 98, and Ed Amaty locked up C1 with a 95. Tony Viel broke a 95 to secure D1, and Jay Taylor broke a 94 to claim E1.

The coveted and lucrative HOA title represents a body of work over a strenuous weekend of shooting. Ben Galioto’s focus and tenacity resulted in a 391×400. This was Ben’s sixth career HOA title! Mike Cerce took AA1, and Larry Bonavita’s 387 took A1. Only three targets back, Jim Seiler posted a solid 388 to claim B1, and Jay Taylor’s 370 took C1.

A special “thank you” goes out to the following people for making this year’s New Jersey State Shoot possible. Thank you to Ben Galioto for his help in running all of the administrative functions for the shoot. Also, we thank our referees, Ed Amaty, Mark Bricker and Sophia Galioto, who all did an outstanding job refereeing. A special thank you goes to Howie Mann for making our State Shoot t-shirts and patches possible, and we extend our sincere thanks to the entire Joint Base staff for all of their assistance. It is very much appreciated! And last, but not least, a big thank you goes to our loyal New Jersey contingency for stepping up and supporting our shoot, and to everyone who made the trip from New York to support our shoot. Thank you all for attending, and for making this year’s state shoot a huge success!

2022 New York State Skeet Championships

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For the 90th time, shooters honored the end of the shooting season in New York by coming to Rochester-Brooks Gun Club in Rush, New York, over the weekend of August 26-28.

Thanks to the state association’s response to a shooter survey conducted after the 2021 state shoot, the traditional schedule starting with doubles Friday afternoon was amended to shoot doubles Friday morning and start the 12-gauge on Friday afternoon. The achieved objective – a shorter day for all.

Friday morning’s doubles kicked off with beautiful summer weather, but humid with a hint of thunderstorms. After a lunch break spent watching the weather radar, two flights of 12-gauge were shot on Friday afternoon, with a time-out called, thanks to an awesome display of lightning, thunder and pounding rain. Soaking wet would be the description for some of the competitors, but lots of good scores were posted!

In Doubles, shot off Friday evening, Craig Parsons shot the lone 99 to capture the championship outright, and in a shoot-off of four 98s that ended two stations shy of the first box, Bill Kalwas and Don Lewandoski finished runner-up and third, respectively. Scott Van Etten settled for A1. Other class champions included David Ballerini (AA), Shane Farr (B), Junior Champion Owen Cooley (C) and John Quealy heading up D class. Mary Alice DeFrancesco captured her first Lady championship of the tournament.

The third flight of 12-gauge took place Saturday morning and added two more 100s to the scores shot Friday. David Cooley captured the champion’s step on the podium in four stations, while Bill Kalwas and Craig Parsons lasted nearly a box as they battled for runner-up and third, respectively. Mat Kelley and Scott Janowski shot off 100s to finish first and second in AA, and Larry Bonavita won A class with his 100. Other class winners included Bobby DeFrancesco over Bob Kase in a shoot-off for B class, while Doug Goodman shot a terrific 99 to take C class. Owen Cooley repeated as Junior champion and won D class with a 97, and Tim Herbstsommer won E class. Victoria Ferchaw won a shoot-off with Kristin Harshman for the Lady title.

The 20-gauge was also shot on Saturday and produced only two perfect scores and one hat-shooting ceremony. Victoria Ferchaw ran her first 100 with the 20-gauge and two stations of doubles later put Long Island’s Michael Cerce on the runner-up step of the podium. Congratulations to Victoria, who became the third lady to win an Open New York state title! In a shoot off of 99s, Clay Tietjen made his first podium appearance at third, while Steve Wood, Dan Morris and Bernie Lenehan claimed the AA places, and Junior champion Cameron Baker won B class. Other class winners included Dave Sobiegray in a shoot-off of 98s for A, Junior shooter Lincoln Nichols in C class and Nicholas Gillett in D class. Victoria also won the Lady championship.

Following the conclusion of the 12- and 20-gauge shoot-offs Saturday evening, two more popular New York events were held: the shoot-off for all kids, everyone eligible, for flats of ammo sponsored by the Mitchell-Heitman Fund to benefit youth shooting, and the 5-man team shoot-off for NY State belt buckles. Owen Cooley gave targets to all the other young competitors but persevered to take home the ammo, while the 5-man team event, which rarely goes more than a station or two, was a family affair, won by David and Owen Cooley, Dan and Steve Holdsworth, and Chad Seelbinder. This is a handicap event to qualify, but no handicap in the team shoot-off, so nice to see a new winner.

Following the shooting events, Rochester-Brooks hosted a cocktail hour and BBQ dinner for all shooters and guests, concluding with the presentation of awards for the championships determined so far, and the installation of two long-time NYSSA members into the Sportsmen’s Division of the New York State Hall of Fame. Congratulations to Joe Endres, still telling amazing stories in his ninth decade, and to Ed Cornelius, former secretary-treasurer of the state association, who showed us how to bring the heat.

Sunday morning kicked off with two more flights of 28-gauge followed by the conclusion of the .410 event. Four perfect scores were shot in the 28, with Steve Wood emerging victorious after two stations. Matthew Lenehan broke the next pair to take runner-up, while John Boone and Craig Parsons continued to settle third and AA1, respectively. A and B classes were both won with scores of 99, shot by Don Lewandoski and Ken Brown, C class was taken by Al Grundman and Sub-Junior shooter Weston Nichols won D class. Cameron Baker took the Junior championship, and Mary Alice DeFrancesco won a shoot-off against Donna Fusco to capture her second Lady title of the shoot.

In the .410, Craig Parsons needed a good score to wrap up the HOA championship and came through in the clutch with a nice 99×100. A shoot-off of 97s filled the runner-up and third spots as the battle of the Mats took one station for Lenehan to win over Kelley. A shoot-off of 96s in AA also established Jon Zywiczynski  as the winner in one station. B.J. Jensen won A with 95, and Victor Stirpe beat Bobby DeFrancesco in a shoot-off for B-class honors. Dan Nichols won C class, and Steve Holdsworth took home the medal for D class. Cameron Baker won the Junior championship, and Mary Alice DeFrancesco took the Lady title.

Parsons won the HOA championship outright with 398×400, HAA with 497×500. Mat Kelley was runner-up with 393, and Dess Ivanov found the third step on the podium with 391. David Ballerini captured AA1, and a shoot-off of 390s resulted in Clay Tietjen winning A class over Matthew Lenehan. Robert DeFrancesco won B, Alan Grundman took C, Gregory McChesney took home the D-class medal, and young Weston Nichols won the Sub-Junior championship, along with E class. Owen Cooley won both the Junior HOA and HAA, and Mary Alice DeFrancesco won Lady HOA.

 Nice weather, lots of good shooting, a first 100, and a wonderful party on Saturday night made a pretty good weekend. Thanks to Dan Caryl, NY Chief Referee, and his excellent button-pushers, to Roger Brooks and Mike Krol for their work on throwing targets, and to the staff and workers at Rochester-Brooks who made every effort to show shooters a good time. Finally, thanks to the shooters; we couldn’t do it without you.

 – Contributed by Andrea Graham Lehr

 

2022 Pennsylvania SCTP Skeet Competition

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On May 14, at Generations Skeet Club, athletes from across the state competed for SCTP skeet honors. Eighty-three athletes representing nine teams attended. The weather, as usual for mid-May, was cool with occasional showers and thunderstorms around. 

This year Allison Shaffer, Fox Township High School, holds the honor of High Over All with a score of 99, and Katelyn Henry of Central Penn Crushers, Lady champ. Competition was tough, and every target counted. Fox Township High School Trap League Senior Varsity Squad of Allison Shaffer, Zac Mosier, and Andrew Gerber took first place with a 270. HAHS Cougars Marcus Rosenstiel Jr., Joseph Katchur, and Dylana Eroh finished second with 269. Third were Katelyn Henry, Bill Gillmen, and Jared Harshbarger of the Central Penn Crushers.

Junior Varsity Champions were Fox Township’s Tyler Geitner, Eli McKay, and Aiden McKay. Gavin Glossner, Samuel Klinepeter, and Nathan Pollard from Central Penn Crushers were the runner-up team. Hunter Bowlen, Emmitt Whipkey, and Jordan Miller representing the Hawkeyes  finished third.

Intermediate Advanced Champions were the Hawkeyes’ Brendon Cole, Kory Taylor, and William Boden, achieving the highest squad score of the event with a 285. Teammates Deacon Whipkey, Benjamin Horne, and Parker Jones were runners-up, and Central Penn Crushers Collin Hillyer, Piercen Hoffman, and Tyler Jones finished third.

Intermediate Entry champions are Central Penn Crushers Grant Glossner, Ryan Harshbarger, and Jackson Shearer.

After the competition was completed, while the scores were tabulated, a shoot-off was held for an engraved Shamrock Leather bag for all divisions. Winners were Grant Glossner, Flint Bolt, Henry Zutter, Noah Haines, and William Boden. Receiving individual awards of Jim White belt buckles were Senior Varsity champion Zak Sutton, runner-up Marcus Rosenstiel, third-place Katelyn Henry; Junior Varsity champ Gavin Glossner, runner-up Eli McKay, third-place Emmitt Whipkey; Intermediate Advanced champ Brendan Cole, runner-up Kory Taylor, third-place Benjamin Horne; Intermediate Entrance champ Grant Glossner, runner-up Andrew Wojtaszek, third-place Brayden Kmetz; Rookie champ Brady Moffatt, runner-up Oliver Zutter, third-place Flint Bolt; Collegiate champion Kenneth Jones, runner-up Nicolas Molchan, third-place Mason Mentzer.

This year we had three first 25 straights from Ethan Barr, James Dughi, and Jayden Bonham, as well as a first 50 straight for Tyler Jones. Eighty-one competitors lined up to do the honors at the hat shoot, possibly a record for Generations. This was the first registered NSSA competition for 26 athletes in attendance. It was a long day for referees Roy and Tim Holtz, Joe Vescovi, and Renee and Bill Calvert. They were great and kept the event on track. Catering by Pirates Cove for lunch and the ice cream social held at the Party Barn during the awards presentation were first class. Thanks to the parents, coaches, and family members that attended and made  the event special for the athletes. Thanks also to the Holtz family for allowing us to hold the SCTP championship at their beautiful facility.

– Contributed by Joe Gans III

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