The 14th Annual North Carolina Junior State Skeet Championships was held Saturday July 23 at Rowan County Wildlife Club in Salisbury, and the competition really showed up. Despite the heat, the youth shooters put some great scores on the board, with their eyes on the North Carolina Junior State bowls.

To many of the shooters, this 12-gauge, 100-target main event shoot was a whole new experience as their first registered targets.  The heat and humidity were definitely an obstacle to overcome. The youth shooters not only demonstrated firearm safety, exemplary sportsmanship, and shooting and field etiquette, but they also proved they can bust up some clays!

Many of the youth shooters shot their personal best high scores. There was a total of 42 shooters: 11 Sub-Juniors, 19 Juniors and 12 Collegiate shooters.

Two participants, Collegiate shooters Corrie Cloninger and Ben Brandon, shot perfect 100 scores that required a shoot-off. Corrie took the Collegiate Champion title, with Ben as runner-up and Marshall Tomchik winning Collegiate third with a 98. Josie Cloninger won Junior Champion with a 99, MaryBeth Parris was Junior runner-up with a 98 and Vaughn Klosowski took Junior third with a 96.

Isaiah Johnson won Sub-Junior Champion with a 91, Carter Mitchell took Sub-Junior runner-up with a 90 and Ridge Pearson took Sub-Junior third with an 87.

Josie Cloninger won Ladies Champion with a 99, MaryBeth Parris took Ladies runner-up with a 98 and Addison Wallace won Ladies third with a 95.

Overall, it was a great shoot put on by the North Carolina Skeet Association. A special thanks to all of the individuals who donated time, funds and shells to make the shoot happen for the youth.

– Contributed by Riley Wallace