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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