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Ohio Cup at Mad River Sportsman’s Club

August 8, 2022 By Cara Woodard

The 2022 Ohio Cup was held in its usual place, Mad River Sportsman’s Club, outside of Bellefontaine, Ohio, and on its usual date, Father’s Day, but that’s where the similarities end. This tournament has always been challenging. The terrain is incredible. The rolling hills and the deceptive backgrounds have historically produced lower scores. It can be very tricky to read the targets correctly.

But participation has fallen off over the years, and this year’s tournament sadly only had 82 shooters present. There was a time when this was arguably one of the premier events in Ohio; if you weren’t signed up for it by the end of February, you weren’t getting in.

A number of dynamics go into the making of a successful club – great targets, price, aesthetics, customer service, housekeeping and more. Neglecting any one of these things can be the death knell for a club. But maybe, while you are boycotting a place, it is actually growing and learning from its mistakes. That seems to be the case for club manager Tony Stratton. When we talked about this year’s tournament, I told him I thought these were the best targets he’s ever thrown. It was crazy hard, but every bird was hittable and fair. You just had to have a solid plan and execute it with precision.

Arthur Ansley won this one with a 90. That was a phenomenal score for this course. There were only two other shooters in the 80’s, yet no one complained about the targets. Tony said if he had thrown this kind of targets a few years back, everyone would have grumbled. But he’s seen how the game has changed and decided to step up and compete with the other top clubs in Ohio. He added a 50-bird AFS game this year as well. It, too, was well thought out and provided another opportunity for shooters to challenge themselves.

If you haven’t shot the Ohio Cup for a while, maybe consider trying it again next year. You might just be surprised to find there are a few more target presentations you can still learn from.

– Contributed by Sandy Welti

Filed Under: Clay Target Nation - ARTICLES, NSCA News, Sporting Clays, Sporting Clays Events Tagged With: clay target shooting, Ohio Cup, sporting clays

Oregon’s Inaugural Hall of Fame Inductees

April 23, 2020 By Cara Woodard

Last September at the Fall Classic event held at Mid-Valley Clays, an appreciative crowd of shooters and family members celebrated the inaugural Oregon NSCA Hall of Fame (HOF) induction of three icons of the sport. It was exactly two months to the day since the topic of creating a potential HOF was discussed at the State Championships awards dinner. Although Oregon doesn’t have an official NSCA Association, the question was asked, “Why can’t we create a Hall of Fame program?” Well, we did just that, and a program was crafted, vetted by HOF Committee members, and nominations were received and voted upon.

 

The votes were unanimous, and there are now three inductees initiated into the newly created Oregon NSCA Hall of Fame. The 2019 inductees are Carl “Skip” Zapffe, Achievement Award; Walt Badorek (posthumously), Service Award; and Beverly Zapffe, Service/Achievement Award. Congratulations to our inaugural inductees.

 

Skip’s achievements are well documented: 23 continuous years as an All-American Team member, captain in five of those years, plus 50+ various other trophies within the Western U.S., usually earning three or more per event.

 

Beverly, too, has amassed many national, regional and state awards, however, many of today’s shooters aren’t aware that she was Oregon’s first National Delegate during NSCA’s initial 10 years of development. She emphasized communication and participation by all members and clubs joining the NSCA movement in the early years. Skip and Beverly were among the initial shooters to start sporting clays in their home state of Oregon. They have become beloved fixtures at all our sporting events locally, regionally and nationally.

 

On a national level, soon after sporting clays became a division of NSSA, Walt Badorek from Klamath Falls served as NSSA President (1990-1992) and helped create a solid foundation of the sport we love today. His induction into Oregon’s HOF completes the recognition of Walt’s previous NSSA and NSCA Hall of Fame honors.

 

All three have unofficially served as Oregon’s ambassadors of the sport and have represented the state well on the local and national stage. Visit the Oregon Sporting Clays website, www.ornsca.org, and the tab “Oregon Hall of Fame” to learn more of these folks’ accomplishments.

 

– Contributed by Tom Jones

      

Filed Under: Clay Target Nation - ARTICLES, NSSA News, NSSA Shoot Reports, Skeet, Skeet Events Tagged With: Oregon HOF Inductees, sporting clays

Herman Cordray Youth Benefit Shoot

December 26, 2018 By Sherry Kerr

The annual Herman Cordray Youth Benefit Shoot took place at Stockton (CA) Trap and Skeet on June 23, 2018. This is an NSCA registered event that is held in memory of Herman Cordray, a sporting clays shooter who passed away in 2011. Organizers of this event include family members, friends and fellow sporting clays shooters.

This event is a fundraiser for the youth shooting clubs in the area. The young shooters come early and help set up for the shoot; they keep score, run errands, clean up and some participate in the event at a discounted price. Herman Cordray was an organ donor, and shooters who are donors enter the event at a discounted price as well. Lunch is included in the registration fee, and the club offers a fun raffle during lunch time. This year the raffle consisted of donated products of the agricultural San Joaquin Valley, including wine from various wineries located in Lodi-Stockton, California area, honey, pickled peppers, olive oil, homemade fruit pies and almonds. Proceeds of the raffle go to the youth clubs who help with the event.

On average, 30 to 40 shooters attend this annual event, and more are always welcome. This year, through generous sponsorships and donations, the shoot provided $3,800 to two youth clubs who helped with the shoot, NorCal Longshots and Coon Creek Youth Sporting Foundation. Under the direction of their coaches, the event was a success. The aim of the event is to keep the foundation of sporting clays solid to ensure the future of this sport, and to date, it has donated close to $36,000.

First-place winners Masters through E class and High Over All first and second-place winners are awarded. Awards are presented in handmade camouflage bags perfect for holding shell casings and other items. First-place winners have their names engraved on a handmade oak award board that is housed at the shooting club.

You can learn more about the shoot and make your plans to attend in 2019 at www.hermancordrayshoot.com.

– Contributed by Tam Cordray

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Filed Under: Clay Target Nation - ARTICLES, Sporting Clays, Sporting Clays Events, Sporting Clays Photos Tagged With: Coon Creek Youth Sporting Foundation, Herman Cordray Youth Benefit Shoot, NorCal Longshots, NSCA, sporting clays

Photo Gallery: NSCA North Central Regional Championship

August 29, 2018 By Sherry Kerr

The North Central Regional Sporting Clays Championship, held at Northbrook Sports Club in Hainesville, Illinois on August 15-19, showcased a beautiful venue for nearly 600 competitors. See our complete event coverage in the October issue of Clay Target Nation. Enjoy these photos of the Northbrook facility and the competition:

Photos by Thaddius Bedford, Liquid Images
Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Filed Under: Clay Target Nation - ARTICLES, Sporting Clays, Sporting Clays Events, Sporting Clays Photos Tagged With: National Sporting Clays Association, North Central Regional, NSCA, sporting clays

Louisiana State Sporting Clays Championship

June 26, 2018 By Sherry Kerr

When your title sponsor, Margaritaville Resort and Casino, gives you a choice of May or August for the Louisiana State Sporting Clays Championship, May wins every time due to the heat in the Deep South. So May 17-20, the first Louisiana Sporting Championship in northern Louisiana for over 25 years took place. Los Paloma Sporting Range and Event Center of Benton, Louisiana, served as host of the shoot, while contracting Flying Q Sporting Clays, also of Benton, to handle the Preliminary and 5-stand events. The weather turned out fabulous, and 266 shooters, many in the area for the first time, had high praise for the facilities, courses, hospitality and the Shreveport-Bossier area.

With great targets set by Reggie Quillin, 170 contestants took their shot at the 100-bird Lonesome Charlie Preliminary. John Terry’s fine score of 97 took the HOA title. Steven Tzotzolas and Ruben Spell were one target back at 96.

Colton Raley won the 5-stand event, also held at Flying Q, in a shoot-off with David King after both posted identical 97s.

Meanwhile at Los Paloma, after 305 rounds of Small Gauge, 265 rounds of Super Sporting, and 79 rounds in the 12-gauge True Pair event, the main event was held. Promatic, another major sponsor of the event, threw some wonderful Heyward Cunningham targets that certainly disappointed no one. Colton Raley out-shot 229 main event entrants for his second state title, with a great 190. Runner-up was Sutton Orenbaun, posting a 187.

Concurrent winners were Lady champion Tristen Owens (173), Sub-Junior champion Caleb Brossette (178), Junior champion Tristen Owens (173), Veteran champion Bert Stelly (184), Super Vet champion Sutton Orenbaun (187) and Senior Super Vet champion Ruben Spell (182).

Hopefully it won’t be another 25 years before a shoot of this caliber makes its way back to the Great North of Louisiana!

– Contributed by Gary Hart

 

Louisiana State Sporting Clays Championship Winners

HOA Colton Raley 190
Runner-up Sutton Orenbaun 187
M1 Clint Foster 186
M2 Gary Hart 186
AA1 Tristen Owens 173
AA2 Dillon Hart 171
A1 James Jeff Smith 178
A2 Jason Dauer 176
B1 Caleb Brossette 178
B2 Mike Broussard 170
C1 Jacob Rhodes 176
C2 Trey Heusel 175
D1 Kenneth Burris 177
D2 Dale Stephens 166
E1 Kameron Durr 156
E2 Blake Perkins 153

 

Filed Under: Clay Target Nation - ARTICLES, Sporting Clays, Sporting Clays Events, Sporting Clays Photos Tagged With: Los Paloma Sporting Range and Event Center, Louisiana State Sporting Clays Championship, Margaritaville Resort and Casino, sporting clays

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