Clay Target Nation

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

2018 New Jersey State Shoot

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Rick Bagni, Ben Galioto, Jim Barnes and Leo Nebbia

The 2018 New Jersey State Shoot rotated back to Joint Base, and shooters were treated to outstanding targets and terrific referees. The tournament started on Friday August 3 with the Doubles event, and Leo Nebbia’s 96 earned him his first state championship. John Zema claimed AA1, Ben Galioto A1, Jay Taylor beat out 11 shooters to win B1, non-resident Stu Slovsky C1 and Howard Mann D1.

On Saturday, the weather gods gave us a full menu, consisting of sun, thunderstorms, and wind with puffy white clouds, but none of this deterred Hall of Famer Holly Paul, Nick Pino and Jim Barnes, who all broke 97s in the 20-gauge event. All three made their way to the shoot-off field, and in the end, it came down to Paul and Barnes. After 10 stations, a tenacious Barnes won his first state title. Class winners were Ben Galioto AA1, Holly Paul A1, Bob Vrablik B1, Tony Viel C1 and Greg Khalaf D1. Non-resident Joe Attard shot a strong 97 and walked away with eight boxes of 20-gauge ammo for the day.

The weather improved slightly for Saturday afternoon’s 28-gauge event, and a determined Ricky “Bags” Bagni stepped up and shot a solid 98 to claim his seventh state title. Class winners were John Zema AA1, Dick Lukasik A1, Nick Pino B1, Bob Vrablik C1 and Ray Stas D1.

On Saturday evening, NJSSA hosted a delicious catered dinner for shooters and Joint Base staff at the Joint Base Clubhouse.

The weather improved for Sunday, and Leo Nebbia shot the only 100 straight of the weekend, claiming the 12-gauge championship and his second state title. Class winners were Ben Galioto AA1, Rick Bagni A1, Jim Barnes B1 with a strong 98, Keith Wilber C1 and Tommy Surman D1.

The last gun was the .410, and Ben Galioto’s 95 was enough to crown him champion. John Zema claimed AA1, Dick Lukasik A1, Nick Pino B1, Bruce Gordon C1 and Joe Madlinger D1.

The HOA had to be settled on the shoot-off field. Ricky Bagni and Ben Galioto were tied, and after an intense shoot-off, Galioto claimed the 2018 HOA title. This was Ben’s 12th career state title. Class winners were John Zema AA1, Leo Nebbia A1, Nick Pino B1, Keith Wilber C1, Greg Khalaf D1 and Raymond Stas E1.

Thanks to Ben Galioto, president; Nick Pino, treasurer; Russell Paul, secretary; and Eddie Amaty, chief referee, for their dedication and hard work in making this NJ State Shoot a success. Thanks also to our referees, Mark Bricker and Sophia Galioto, for doing a superb job, to our skeet administrator Kevin Dawkins and the entire Joint Base staff, and to Rob Madowsky for donating our event t-shirts. We also thank everyone who participated in this year’s NJ State Championship for their commitment to New Jersey skeet shooting.

– Contributed by Ben Galioto

Nebraska State Skeet Championships

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The 86th annual Nebraska State Skeet Championships were held August 24-26 at the Lincoln Trap and Skeet Club in Lincoln. The action started Friday with the Oak Creek Engineering Champ of Champs event. This event consists of 25 targets in each gauge/bore, working your way up from the .410. Dave Meisinger shot the lone 99 to take the first state title up for grabs for the weekend. Class winners were Rob Predmore AA1, Tim Hartzog A1, Bill Buettgenbach B1, Deric Meisinger C1 and Kyle Warnke D1.

Friday afternoon brought the Check Point Doubles event. Corey Zenon bested the field with a 96 to take his first-ever Nebraska skeet title. Three shooters carded a 95 in the event, with Rich McCubbin, runner-up, edging out Josh Peters, third, and Jerry Classen C1. Other class winners included Predmore AA1, Buettgenbach A1, Deric Meisinger B1 and Jared Crouse D1.

Saturday morning brought the Morton Buildings 20-gauge event. When the smoked cleared, Rob Predmore added another state title to his impressive resume, shooting the lone 100 straight. One of Nebraska’s many great young talents, Jacob Uphoff, took runner-up, while the pride of Nebraska trapshooting, Ricky Marshall, took third. Class winners were Mike Englund AA1, Jerry Classen A1, Dale Fangmeyer B1, Cliff Ehlers C1 and Zach Hinze D1.

The Class One Machine .410 event was next up on Saturday afternoon. Jerry Classen outlasted Rob Predmore, runner-up, in the shoot-off of impressive 99s to take the belt buckle. This was Classen’s second .410 state title, winning the event back in 2008 with a 100 straight. Ricky Marshall took third with his best .410 score to date, a 97. Class winners included Josh Peters AA1, Rick Hoffman A1, John Rossi B1, Wayne Bennett C1 and Kyle Warnke D1.

Sunday was a day of firsts, starting with the Conreco, Inc. 28-gauge event. Deric Meisinger shot his first-ever 100 straight, and the only 100 straight in the field, to take his first Nebraska state title. A very proud dad, Dave Meisinger, had loaned Deric his Browning Citori to use at the shoot and promised Deric the gun if he ran 100 straight sometime during the weekend. Looks like Dave has an extra spot in his safe now! Runner-up went to Dale Fangmeyer, and third went to another one of our impressive young shooters, Jestynne Crankshaw. Rob Predmore AA1, Jerry Classen A1, John Rossi B1, Harry Walker C1 and Doug Carper D1 took class honors.

Seventy-seven shooters took to the fields Sunday afternoon for the Anderson Auto Group 12-gauge event. Only one of those seventy-seven shooters didn’t miss, and that was junior shooter Mason Weller with his first 100 straight. Dave Meisinger took runner-up, with third going to John Rossi. Class winners went to Ricky Marshall AA1, Corey Zenon A1, Don Serna B1, Jestynne Crankshaw D1 and Dave Niehus E1. The coveted John Day 5-Man Team trophy went to Rick Hoffman, Roger Plooster, Troy Geisert, Wayne Bennett and Jared Crouse.

Rob Predmore came away with both the Kolar HOA (394) as well as the Paul Davis Restoration HAA titles (488). Other notable HOA results included Ricky Marshall, runner-up; Jerry Classen, third; Katie Petersen, Lady champ and Collegiate champ; and class winners Rich McCubbin AA1, Dave Meisinger A1, John Rossi B1, Deric Meisinger C1, Wayne Bennett D1 and Dorothy Johnson E1.

A big thanks goes out to Lincoln Trap and Skeet, as well as all of the staff and volunteers, for putting on such a great shoot. Dale Fangmeyer had the skeet machines throwing great targets all weekend long. Dave and Lori Shipferling continued the tradition of our famous Friday night fish fry, and Skeet and Jill Hier treated the crowd to a wonderful steak dinner on Saturday night. Great targets, food and friends – what more could you want? The 2019 Nebraska State Championships will be in North Platte next year. Hope to see you there!

– Contributed by Chris Lutz

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Minnesota State Skeet Championships

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Rick Wilder’s Metro Gun Club in Blaine, Minnesota, was the venue for the 2018 Minnesota State Skeet Shooting Association (MSSA) Championships, August 17-19. The shooters were treated to perfect weather and great targets throughout the tournament. Winds were mostly calm, and the background at Metro is always ideal.

Friday’s Doubles event was led by Jeff Korhonen, whose 99 was uncontested. A pair of 98s were posted by 16-year-old Hayden Wege and Jarret Hayes, with Hayden claiming the runner-up spot and Jarret coming in third. Doubles class champions were Jerry Ryan, the 2018 MSSA Hall of Fame Inductee), class A; Paul Davis B1, Sam Radford C1 and Arthur R. Peterson Jr. D1.

Hayden Wege, Paul Davis, Jeff Korhonen and Mike Quigley each posted perfect scores in Saturday’s 12-gauge event. Hayden Wege emerged the winner with Paul Davis runner-up. Jerry Ryan placed third, followed by Scott Melchisedech AA1, Jeff Korhonen A1, Mike Quigley B1, Justin Staebell C1, Grant Benson D1 and Arthur R. Peterson Jr. E1.

Jeff Korhonen stayed hot, posting his second consecutive 100 straight in the 20-gauge event. He claimed the 20-gauge title after a shoot-off with Jerry Ryan, runner-up, and Janice Lohman, third, who also posted perfect scores. 20-gauge class champions were Michael Lohman, Robert Rick, Sam Radford, Grant Benson and Jared Miller in classes AA, A, B, C and D. Spectators for both events saw lengthy exhibitions of Doubles at 3, 4 and 5 before the 12- and 20-gauge champions were established.

Shooters and guests enjoyed a buffet dinner in the clubhouse Saturday night, along with the presentation of trophies by MSSA president, Brian Hendrickson.

Calm weather greeted the Sunday events. The 28-gauge was won by Tony Lowe with the lone 100. Three 99s were posted by Robert Rick, David Baker and 2017 MSSA Hall of Fame inductee Leon Rother. Robert Rick claimed 28-gauge runner-up, with Leon Rother placing third. David Baker won class AA, followed by Scott Melchisedech, Gene Helsene, Jeff Schneider and Deon Thompson in classes A, B, C and D.

Jerry Ryan won the .410 event with an uncontested 99 and claimed the High Overall Championship in the process. 98s were posted by David Baker, runner-up, and Scott Melchisedech, third. The .410 class winners were Michael Lohman, Jeff Korhonen, Sam Radford, David Michaelynn and Gunner Rockwell Hove at AA, A, B, C and D, respectively.

The 2018 High Overall awards went to Jerry Ryan, champion; Jeff Korhonen, runner-up and HAA Champion; David Baker, third; and class winners Michael Lohman AA1, Scott Melchisedech A1, Gene Helsene B1, Leon Rother C1 and Gunner Rockwell Hove D1.

Our thanks go to Scott Melchisedech for running the NSSA scoring software. It’s a time-consuming task that is critical to running a quality shoot. It was especially hard for Scott because he was posting great scores and winning shoot-offs at the same time.

– Contributed by Ron Chandler

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Joe Van Memorial Shoot

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The 11th annual Joe Van Memorial Shoot was held July 20-22 at Carlisle Fish and Game Association in Carlisle, PA. Joe VanDenburg was Skeet Chair and supporter of skeet for many years at Carlisle and was responsible for starting many new skeet shooters.

Our five-gun shoot this year hosted 28 shooters from five states. Barry Horner of Keymar, MD, a Veteran shooter of only seven years, shot his first 100 straight in Doubles, winning that event. Carlisle is his home club, and he is coached by Denny Lehman. The rains started early Saturday morning and continued all weekend, soaking all our brave participants. But Matt Sanders of Abbottstown, PA, must have been rainproof, as he cleaned up in all the other guns, shooting an HOA of 397.

Thanks to all who helped make this shoot a success.

– Contributed by Tom Wolfe

 

Generations Couples Shoot

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The fourth annual Couples Shoot was held at Generations Skeet Club near Patton, PA, on September 16. The weather was great, upper 70s and partly cloudy with just enough wind to keep it interesting (we wouldn’t want any new skeet shooters to think it was too easy).

The Couples Shoot was initiated by Generations to introduce new shooters, especially ladies and younger shooters, to skeet, to have fun shooting while stressing gun safety, to enjoy an early autumn afternoon with a fine group of people and, of course, to eat! It was begun in 2015 with 14 couples participating. This year, 76 shooters – 38 couples – participated. Who knows what might happen next year; there certainly will be a next year for this shoot!

Shooting began at 11 a.m., and all four of the skeet fields were soon involved. Many of the participants were first-time shooters. Certified instructors were present on each field to help these new shooters, and any not-so-new shooters that wanted it. Generations also provided shotguns, shells and eye and ear protection to those who needed them. Pullers and scorers included Kelsey Krug and Paige McMullen; both young ladies regularly help run the Wednesday night skeet league here and do a great job. They also joined in on the shooting fun and did well!

Squads of 4, 6 and/or 8 people participated. All NSSA safety rules were strictly enforced, but some of the other rules were slightly bent at times to help new shooters. For example, some new shooters shot four singles instead of two singles and a double at times, and congratulating a new shooter each time they smoked a bird was encouraged.

At approximately 4 p.m., after everyone had shot at 50 birds (two rounds), shoot-offs began. Liberal, but top secret, handicaps were applied, which allowed all the couples to participate in doubles at 3, 4 and 5. The shoot-offs were also handicapped with experienced shooters receiving no targets and rookies getting four. Following the first round of shoot-offs, the remaining eight pairs of shooters proceeded to field 2 for the final shoot-off. A large crowd of spectators watched and cheered as the winners were decided. Cindy and Jeff Harding emerged as the Couples Shoot champions for 2018 and were awarded the custom tiara bedecked with spent shotgun shells and a blue ribbon. Shoot runners-up were Shane and Kate Crawford, and third place went to Michael Vescovi and Kiersten Kruise. During the awards ceremony, beautiful engraved wine glasses to commemorate the event were presented to all three couples. Just for the record, the champs and runners-up are experienced sporting clays shooters but first-time skeet shooters. They commented on how much they enjoyed the game and the camaraderie, and I would bet they become regular skeet shooters, as they met some very good friends.

After the shooting was done, people migrated to “The Barn,” about 200 yards from the skeet clubhouse, for a fine picnic-style dinner. After the meal, awards were presented to the Couples Shoot winners, and winners of the recently finished Wednesday night league were recognized.

Many thanks to the Generations Skeet Family for hosting a great event!

– Contributed by George Gleich

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