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87th Pennsylvania State Shoot

October 19, 2023 By Cara Woodard

PSSA held the 87th annual Pennsylvania State Open Skeet Championships at Shenecoy Sportsmen’s beautiful 16-field facility in McConnellstown, PA, on August 18-20. Overall, the weather was nice. A bit of wind on Friday afternoon, a bit of fog Sunday morning, nothing too bad, although some of the doubles shooters (Friday afternoon) might not agree.

One hundred ninety-five participants shot at least one gun, including 45 out-of-state shooters from 14 different states. Thank you so much for coming, folks! There were 178 four-gun shooters, and the shoot difficulty factor was 24.6.

Open HOA winners were Josh Crofutt (champion, 397), Mike Stasio (runner-up, 395) and Tyler Mroczka (third, 394). PA HOA winners were Crofutt (champion), Mroczka (runner-up) and Fran Kosmacki (third, 393). Open HAA Champion and runner-up, respectively, were Crofutt (494) and Stasio (493); Mike Rykacewski Jr. (491) was third. PA HAA honors went to Crofutt, champion; Rykacewski Jr., runner-up; and Mroczka, third.

The .410-bore Prelim on Friday morning involved 32 shooters. Lissette Grunwell-Lacey broke 95 birds and was the open champ. Alyssa Gormish (93) and Peter Bogdon (93), respectively, were open runner-up and third. PA winners were Alyssa Gormish, champion; Clay Gormish, runner-up; and Joe Gans III, third. David Darrough, Meghan Darrough, Charles Ford and Shawn King, respectively, took PA class A-D firsts.

There were 145 doubles shooters on Friday afternoon, and some pesky wind. Mike Rykacewski Jr. (98) was open champion, while Mike Stasio (98) and Kenny Riddile (97), respectively, were runner-up and third. PA champion, runner-up and third, respectively, were Rykacewski Jr., Riddile and Crofutt. PA class firsts went to Chris Kline, Frank Smithmyer, Mroczka, Steve Hildebrand, Gavin Glossner and Mark Hunt (AAA-D).

In the main event, there were nine 100-straights in the 12-gauge, six in the 20, seven in the 28 and three in the .410.

PA champion, runner-up and third, respectively, were Mark Eckert, Mroczka and Crofutt in the 12-gauge (with Jack Krispin as open champion); Rykacewski Jr., Jack Harshbarger and Crofutt in the 20 (Krispin and Meredith Tunick, respectively, open runner-up and third; Crofutt, Kosmacki and Nick Boerboon in the 28 (Sam Armstrong and Tunick, respectively, open champion and third), and Roy Holtz, Rich Vensel and Tom Hillard in the .410 with PA shooters taking the top three open spots with 100-straights.

Class first places (PA) were won by Denny Lehman, Smithmyer, Joe Vescovi, Michael Vescovi, Kurt Fisher, Gavin Glossner and Andrew Wojtaszek (12-gauge AAA-E); Kline, Ed Call, Tim Vescovi, Evan Martin, Bill Sellitto and Gavin Glossner (20-gauge AAA-D); Rykacewski Jr., Tom Johnson, Mroczka, Joe Paul, Grant Glossner, and Colby Eckert (28-gauge AAA-D), and Kline, Joe Vescovi, Adam Vollmer, Meghan Darrough, John Stough and Jerry McCullough (.410 bore AAA-D).

Grant Glossner, David Darrough and Ryan Harshbarger, respectively, were Sub-Junior open and PA HOA champion, runner-up and third. Kyle Krispin, Gavin Glossner and Marcus Rosenstiel Jr., respectively, were Junior open HOA champion, runner-up and third; Gavin Glossner, Rosenstiel Jr., and Adam Smith, respectively, were Junior PA HOA champ, runner-up and third.

Open Lady HOA winners were Meredith Tunick, champion; Meghan Darrough, runner-up; and Crystal Stoddard, third. PA Lady HOA winners were Meghan Darrough, champion; Alyssa Gormish, runner-up; and Missy Vescovi, third.

Saturday evening was busy, beginning with 12- and 20-gauge shoot-offs and ending with several hat shoots and the BCDE Challenge shoot-off.

Tyler Wagner had his first registered 25-straight in the 12-gauge event; Rich Vensel and Tom Hillard had their first 100-straights in the .410. All three of their hats were well ventilated.

Between the shoot-offs and the hat shoots:

Roy Holtz from Generations Skeet Club was inducted into the PSSA Skeet Shooting Hall of Fame. Roy is and has been a strong ambassador for skeet for many years. His favorite avocation is teaching youngsters what skeet is all about, often providing guns, ammo and targets. I can think of no one in the State who deserves this honor more than Roy. He is not a bad shooter either, as evidenced by his 100-straight in the .410 which was good for the gun championship.

PA’s top shooters for 2023 (2022 data) were recognized. All-State first and second teams were named, and each received a nice wooden plaque. The first team includes Mike Rykaczewski Jr. (state high gun with a 0.9824 HOA average), Josh Crofutt, Fran Kosmacki, Tom Hillard and Alyssa Gormish; second team members include Denny Lehman, Clay Gormish, Jack Harshbarger, Gary Nace and Debra Meade.

All Juniors (8) and Sub-Juniors (15) who shot in the 12-gauge had 50% of their entry fees paid by PSSA.

Denny Lehman, again, conducted a fund drive for the State Shoot that resulted in over $26,300 added money. Many thanks to Denny, and especially to Elite Shotguns, the major sponsor of the PA State Shoot, who matched donations received from businesses and individuals up to $10,000. Special thanks also to all the businesses and individuals that made donations.

The PSSA President’s Cup award for 2023 was presented to Lori and Barry Sheffield for all their work over the years to make and keep Shenecoy the premiere shooting facility that it is.

Added money was capped so that gun champion, runner-up and third received $400, $300 and $200, 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 $90, $85, $80, $75 and $70, respectively).

In a field of 67 shooters, Gavin Glossner won the BCDE Challenge shoot-off. Class champs B-E, respectively, were Ted Capers, Grant Glossner, Gavin Glossner and Luke Holtz. All winners were from PA, and all received cash awards.

The 5-person team belt buckle championship involved three teams. The winning team members were Jared Shaffer, Mark Eckert, Bill Calvert, Stephen Rupprecht and Tim Vescovi. Each received a beautiful belt buckle.

Members of the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Company served a tasty dinner of tortillas and tacos with all the fixins to the shooters and their guests on Saturday night. Many thanks to John Ramagli who graciously paid for the meals of the competitors!

Kudos to: Tami Daniel-Means and her hubby Al for handling registration, scorekeeping and posting; Bobby Wilkin, Chief Referee and shoot-off announcer and his outstanding group of referees; the Generations Skeet Club team who handled medal preparation and distribution; and Nick Boerboon, PSSA President, who was involved in most everything, in addition to shooting very well.

Special thanks to the following folks whose hard work was greatly appreciated: Barry and Lori Sheffield and all the Shenecoy staff; Rod Shyda (Lincoln Traps); Bob Woods (Elite Shotguns); and all of the crew from Petersburg Volunteer Fire Company for running the kitchen throughout the shoot and feeding the hungry masses.

Please mark your calendars for the 2024 Pennsylvania State Skeet Shoot which will be held at Shenecoy on August 16-18. We are anticipating having $20,000 plus added money, again, and being the most highly attended State Shoot in the country again.

– Contributed by George Gleich

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Filed Under: Clay Target Nation - ARTICLES, Clay Target Nation Photo Galleries, NSSA News, Skeet, Skeet Events, Skeet Photos Tagged With: clay target shooting, Pennsylvania Skeet Shooting Association, skeet, skeet shooting

Pennsylvania State Skeet Championship

December 28, 2018 By Sherry Kerr

Pennsylvania Skeet Shooting Association held its 82nd annual Pennsylvania State Open Skeet Championship at the Shenecoy Sportsmen facility in McConnellstown, PA on August 24-26. The weather, facilities, targets and referees were all great. 190 participants shot at least one gun, including 37 out-of-state shooters from Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Alessandro Vitale, Zone 2 committeeman from MD, was open HOA (398) and HAA (497) champion. Sam Armstrong was open HOA (396) and HAA (495) runner-up. Pennsylvanians Ted Capers and Fran Kosmacki were open HOA third (395) and open HAA third (492), respectively. PA HOA champion, runner-up and third, respectively, were Capers, Kosmacki and Richard (Frenchy) Larosa; Kosmacki, Larosa and R. Dennis Lehman were PA HAA champion, runner-up and third.

The 28-gauge Prelim started the festivities on Friday morning with 48 shooters participating. Michael Zavasky posted the lone 100 and emerged as champion. Clay Gormish and Jared Shaffer shot 99s and were, respectively, runner-up and third.

117 participants shot Doubles on Friday afternoon. Armstrong and Vitale shot 99s and were open champion and runner-up, respectively, while Chris Kline’s 99 was good for open third. Kline (99), Gary Nace (98) and Lehman (98), respectively, were PA champion, runner-up and third. PA class firsts went to Kosmacki, Kenny Riddile, Gormish, Tom Hillard, David Darrough and Rege Guckert (AAA-D).

In the main event, there were 13 perfect 100s in the 12-gauge, seven in the 20, 10 in the 28 and one in the .410. PA champion, runner-up and third, respectively, were Lehman, Kline, and Ernie Avolio in the 12 (185 shooters with Michael Stasio from DE winning open champion); Capers, Lehman and Gormish in the 20 (183 shooters); Kosmacki, Zavasky and Gormish in the 28 (176 shooters with Armstrong open third); and, Peter Anderson, Capers and Paul Augustin in the .410 (171 shooters, with Vitale’s 99 taking open runner-up).

Class (PA) winners were Matthew Sanders, Frank Smithmyer, Augustin, Meghan Darrough, Rich Rothrock, Richard Teti and Jack Makdad (12-gauge AAA-E); Kosmacki, Dan Felton, Adam Vollmer, Mark Saussure, Jackson Paul and Robert Saam (20-gauge AAA-D); Tom Johnson, Pat Leyo, Ed Call, Colin Crawford, Jeff Wright and Tracey Snyder (28-gauge AAA-D), and Joe Vescovi, Matthew Sanders, William Teti, Howard Page, Paul and Bob Waite (.410 bore AAA-D).

Among Junior shooters, LaRosa, Meghan Darrough and Paul, respectively, were PA HOA champion, runner-up and third, and open champion, runner-up and third. PA Ladies HOA winners were Debra Meade, champion; Meghan Darrough, runner-up; and Linda Sanders, third. Open Lady winners were Meade, champion, Sue Huszai at runner-up and Meghan Darrough, third.

A mega-hat shoot took place on Saturday evening, starting with a hat shoot in memory of Frank Walsh. After the memorial hat shoot, seven other hats were blasted by a long line of shooters. This must have been one of the biggest hat shoots (at least by the number of shooters out there) of all time.

Colin Crawford bested 47 other shooters to win the BCDE Challenge shoot-off. The top prize was a Henry rifle donated by Ed and Theresa Call.

The 5-man team handicap championship shoot-off – free to all shooters, based on 12-gauge averages – involved 13 teams. For the second consecutive year, the winners were the North Carolina Boys: Scott Graham, Russell Bingham, Steve Timmons, Rob Pope and Chip Simmons. Each received a beautiful belt buckle.

With 33 entries in the HOA Handicap shoot-off, the winners were Capers, Kosmacki and Leyo, in order.

PA State Teams for 2017 were recognized. The PA first team included Kosmacki, Lehman, Kline, Felton and Gormish, and each received a nice wooden plaque.

A drawing between 13 first-time 4-gun shooters at the State Shoot resulted in Carl Biddle being reimbursed his 4-gun entry fees. Josh Crofutt was the winner of free entry fees to the 2018 World Skeet Championships.

The PSSA President’s Cup award for 2017 was presented to Bob and Becky Myers in recognition of their long-time support of skeet clubs and their major milestone of 1 million combined registered skeet targets at the World Shoot this year.

Many shooters had firsts at this year’s State Shoot. Shooting their first 100s were Rich Rothrock, Jack Makdad, Armand Watts and Randal Horsley in the 12; Colin Crawford in the 28; and Peter Anderson in the .410. First 75s included Tori Holtz, Joe McGarvey and Guy Barr in the 12. First 50s included Allison Shaffer and Tracey Snyder in the 28.

George Gleich shot his 225,000th registered bird during the 20-gauge event.

All Juniors and Sub-Juniors participating in this year’s State Shoot had 100% of their entry fees paid by PSSA; shells used (4 boxes for each event except the Prelim) were also provided by PSSA.

Special thanks to the many club volunteers and sponsors whose hard work and support made our event a success, and to those who contributed a total of $5,400 in added money.

– Contributed by George Gleich

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Filed Under: Clay Target Nation - ARTICLES, Skeet, Skeet Events, Skeet Photos Tagged With: Pennsylvania Skeet Shooting Association, Pennsylvania State Open Skeet Championship, Pennsylvania State Skeet Championship, Shenecoy Sportsmen, shotgun sports, skeet

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